A Fateful Roll
by silencer299
Summary: The loss of a newcomer friend opened their eyes to life's ugly side, as well as the love that exists in the world. Does death truly part love? NaruHina sidestory.
1. Chapter 1  Restless Nights

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.

Chapter 1

The night was cool and humid, dogs howled for a kid's pain. There was some disturbance earlier that night when somebody tried to break into several houses in a row. An emergency call for help was used, but Konoha's ninja couldn't come in time to catch the culprit.

Naruto avoided detection as best as he could, but the bright orange suit didn't help his sneaking much, neither did the pack of dogs that was chasing him. "I knew I should have listened to Hinata's advice..."

An orange blur flashed in the corner of a chuunin's eyesight, "Over there!" yelled the ninja, making his fellow co-workers rush into the alleyway where the orange blur ran in to.

Naruto knew this village by heart. He knew it more than anyone else alive, for his young years of pranks and running away had their benefits. He lured the search party into a dead end, and disappeared into a shortcut that nobody else knew of. He still had to run however; the pack of dogs had his scent and was on its way to give him a hefty dose of rabies.

Kakashi was called out to help search for the culprit, the parties of experienced ninjas had no idea where their target kept disappearing. The professional tracker put his head protector on and left his apartment. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" exclaimed the copy ninja, slamming his palm into the ground.

A cloud of smoke revealed several dogs with Shinobi head protectors, "Yo, Kakashi, how's it going?" asked Pakkun.

"I need help finding a certain someone."

"Do you have a scent ready for us?"

Kakashi wasn't prepared at all, he had summoned his nin-dogs, but he would now waste their time trying to find a scent. "No."

Pakkun didn't get angry; he had a good friendship happening with Kakashi. But still wondered "Why did you summon us then? Getting senile?"

Kakashi grinned in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head, "No, it's been a long day and I can't think straight. Tell you what, come help me search, and I'll get you all some dog food."

Pakkun got pissed off, "Kakashi, I may look like a dog, and I may like dog food, but don't forget who I am."

"I never did." smiled Kakashi

"Oh, alright then, we'll help you."

Naruto was panting from constant running, lost in thought, not knowing what to do. He didn't want to be charged with domestic disturbance, yet he didn't want to become a chew toy for stray dogs. Going home would also cause problems when the dogs would start marking it as their territory, and going to the Hyuga estate was too early to even consider. "Maybe I should just go outside the village and sleep in a tree. Dogs can't climb trees..."

The blond boy made a sharp turn around a corner and jumped up on a ledge to let the following ninja run by. "This is good practice..." smirked the teen.

The party of ninja ran by, not detecting his presence from the above. A sweat drop rolled down from his forehead, and fell from the tip of his nose. "I got to go to that hiding spot..." concluded the whiskered boy, and jumped down from his temporary resting spot.

Hinata was in her room, brushing her hair. "I wonder what Naruto is doing right now..." were her final thought before her father bust in her room, demanding that she turned her light of and went to sleep.

Tsunade was observing the restless night streets of Konoha in amusement. Lately there hadn't been much demand for the village's ninja, and missions were hard to come by, especially good B-ranked ones or higher. As a result there was much slacking off happening, and ninja were getting fat and lazy.

She knew the fact that Naruto was being chased by dogs, as well as she knew what had been going on in the streets below. Every little hiding spot Naruto had, every little detail he went through, she could see. The woman could have gone down and caught him herself, but she was using his misfortune to Konoha's advantage, and giving ninja some practice.

Pakkun's journey of sniffing the ground had come to an end; he lifted his head, "found him... Kakashi, you're going to love this..."

Naruto hid in his underground hideout, which he hid using a genjutsu that he learned a while back. Nobody but him would see the entrance, and if dogs could sniff him out, he set up a few harmless traps to stop them for the night. He leaned against the wall, and started eating chips, "This turned out to be a fun night."

Pakkun and several of his fellow dog-nin sniffed out Naruto's hiding spot and surrounded it. "He's in there, Kakashi."

Kakashi smiled, looking at a brick wall, "oh Naruto..." he shook his head, "you can't use this kind of genjutsu on me."

Naruto was starting to doze off, when a searing pain engulfed his wrist, he opened his eyes, "Oh no..." he looked down at his hand, which was now in the mouth of a dog, being chewed. "Rabies!" Screamed the whiskered kid and jumped up. Naruto then remembered something and observed the dog again, "Hey... I know you..."

"Oi, Naruto, long time no see!" Exclaimed a familiar voice.

A smile crept over the kid's face, "Pakkun!" Yelled Naruto and rushed over to the dog to give him a hug. "How have you been?" At that moment another thought came to mind, "Wait a second... If you're here, then so is..."

"Oi Naruto, what the hell have you been doing to the village? It's an uproar out there." Said the masked ninja.

"Kakashi!" yelled Naruto in joy, "You have to help me! I was walking home, and as I was going around the corner, I saw a pack of dogs waiting on my doorstep! So I started running away from them, and have been running ever since! I tried to get some help by knocking on doors and screaming for them to let me in! Nobody helped me!"

"Yeah, I wouldn't want a screaming lunatic with a pack of diseased dogs in my house either." replied Kakashi.

"Then they set ninja parties to chase me down, now I'm being hunted by all kinds of species! I noticed that birds don't seem to like me either!" Whined Naruto.

"Alright, let's get you over to Tsunade and get this mess cleared up. And what is it with you and dogs?"

Naruto went into a fit of tears and confusion, "I don't know! They all hate me!"

Tsunade was sitting in her office, looking over the sleeping village from her window. She had already called all the search parties off, prepared tea and dog food for her incoming guests, and was waiting for them to knock any second now. "Come in!" exclaimed the Hokage. The door opened, Naruto, Kakashi, and the pack of nin-dogs entered her office. "I've been expecting you."

Naruto didn't feel like screaming; he was tired, sweaty, and in desperate need of tea to get rid of his pesky thirst. He walked up, sat down, and started happily sipping the hot beverage, "This is good tea, thanks Baa-chan..." were the boy's last words before he fell asleep.

Tsunade looked up at Kakashi's inquisitive stare, "Yes, I organized all this. What can I say? I got bored."

"The dogs with rabies were quite unnecessary."

Tsunade agreed, "Yes, but I didn't do that part. Naruto attracted the dogs without my help."

Pakkun stepped into the conversation, "Sorry to interrupt you, but..." Pakkun started giving quick glances to the dog food that Tsunade had set up beforehand.

"Of course, you can all treat yourself, that's why I put it there," replied Tsunade to the pack of nin-dogs. She turned back to Kakashi, "Naruto seems to have gained a new enemy. So far, this person has been doing nothing but trying to make his life miserable. I just used this situation to Konoha's advantage.

Kakashi sat down, and tried to run this through his head. "It's late, and I haven't had sleep for almost a week now. Let's discuss this tomorrow."

Tsunade nodded, "Escort Naruto back home safely, and get some sleep yourself."

"Hai." nodded Kakashi, getting up. He then turned to the pack of dogs feasting on their well-deserved meal, "Pakkun, I'm going now. When you and the rest of your gang are finished eating, you will be dismissed."

"Hai, have a good one, Kakashi." replied Pakkun through a full mouth.

Kakashi slapped Naruto awake and helped him stand back up, "Naruto, you're going home."

Naruto looked up, not sure if the happenings were another dream or not, "Huh? Oh yeah, sure..." replied the blond kid and fell back asleep.

Kakashi put Naruto's arm around his shoulder and headed towards the door, "What about the dogs?"

"I wouldn't worry, they're gone now." replied Tsunade.

Hinata lay in her bed, unable to sleep. Something was troubling her, she felt a need to sneak out her window and go pay Naruto a visit. She got up and peeked out her door, satisfied by the fact that everybody seemed to be asleep, she dressed up and climbed out her window into the night.

Hiashi opened his eyes, his blood limit activated. He got up, already knowing that Hinata snuck out to see her secret boyfriend. Hiashi had sensed it for a while now, Hinata's change. His daughter was no longer shy, lost her stutter, and even defied his orders every once in a while. He dressed up and started trailing Hinata to her secret lover.

Kakashi dragged the boy beside him with effort; something was out of place about Naruto. Kakashi put him down and opened the boy's coat. "Oh Naruto..." sighed Kakashi, pulling a plate of metal from Naruto's suit. "Be careful, strength isn't something that's too useful nowadays. And this kind of power is bad for your health."

Several dogs appeared from behind a corner, growling, fanged mouths foaming with rabies. The pack started circling Kakashi and his unconscious comrade.

Kakashi looked around to see if any human was in sight, he didn't want anyone to see what he was going to do next. Satisfied that he was the only conscious human on the premises, he took his forehead protector off and dropped it beside Naruto. He then loosened some of his clothes to give his body room to breathe.

The dogs were advancing, murderous eyes fixed on what they assumed to be their prey.

Kakashi started removing his mask, revealing his left Sharingan eye. He then pulled the cloth down even further; he was revealing his face to the dogs.

The pack of dogs fell to the ground, unconscious, when Kakashi released a thunderous roar.

Naruto instantly woke up from the noise, to find himself lying on the ground beside Kakashi, surrounded by unconscious, shivering dogs. "What happened?" asked the blond getting up from the cold, hard ground.

Kakashi turned back to Naruto, mask already put back in its proper position, "Oh, you're awake. Good, I won't have to carry you anymore."

Naruto felt light, awake, and ready for a whole new day. "What time is it?"

"I think it's around four-thirty."

Naruto decided to go home to make himself some eggs for breakfast, "Alright, thanks for the escort. I'll get home by myself."

Kakashi smirked, and replied, "I highly doubt it," as Naruto collapsed into sleep again. "You may feel wide awake, but your mind still needs rest. Your latest training takes a lot out of you."

Hinata didn't activate her blood limit. She ran down the streets, knowing that her father was following her. If she had activated her blood limit, Hiashi would know that she was aware of his presence. She didn't want to give Naruto any trouble, but she couldn't turn around and run back home, it would raise suspicion in her father.

Hiashi had been following Hinata for a while; the girl was leading him into an old part of Konoha, overgrown with trees. "Where on earth is she going, and who is this guy that thinks he's worthy of her?" thought Hiashi

Hinata ran past the landscape of trees and bushes, until she arrived at a terrain of trees growing out of a pond. She stopped and took her shoes off.

Hiashi stopped in his tracks, seeing that his daughter ceased her running and was now doing something else.

Hinata, barefoot, stepped onto the water and tied her hair back. "I hope this works..." thought Hinata as she started training her fighting style.

The man was stunned, he was so sure that she snuck out to visit her boyfriend, that he failed to consider that she left to go train, "Hinata..." He shook the pride he had for his daughter off, "No, she was definitely going to see him, she just noticed me and changed course to try and confuse my logic." Thought Hiashi, "But how could she notice me? She didn't activate her Byakugan, not even for a split second... how did she... notice me?"

Hinata's quick fighting style of mixing chakra, and using the terrain as an obstacle course, was beautiful to Hiashi. He watched as his daughter, flawlessly executed every move of the never before seen style. "Where did she get this? How did she get this?"

The training used up all Hinata's concentration; she couldn't focus in on her father's position or presence. The only thing she could do is keep training for half an hour, and look for his presence once she pretended to take a break. But she was in no hurry; she enjoyed her new style almost as much as she loved Naruto. The night's potential was fulfilled by Naruto and Hinata's doings.


	2. Chapter 2 Ichiraku ramen

Chapter 2 

Hiashi forced himself to walk away, rather than come out of hiding and demand an explanation from Hinata. He wished to know who her boyfriend was, and where she got the new style from, but considered his daughter's change. If he would burst into her life in such a vulgar manner, he would lose her completely; she would always defy his will and become an unsuitable heir to the Hyuga family.

Hinata trained until morning. She stopped for what looked like a break, to see if there was any presence of her father lurking about. Satisfied by the fact that nobody was watching her, she put her shoes back on and walked back to the social part of Konoha.

Naruto woke up from a knock on his door. His head felt like it was splitting in half, and his muscles were so sore, that he dropped to the ground when he tried to stand up.

Upon hearing a loud thud on the ground, Ino burst in through Naruto's door. "Hey, blondie," said the girl coming over to the kid on the floor to help him get up.

"You shouldn't be talking," replied Naruto.

Ever since several months beforehand, there had been a chain reaction of change in people's personalities. Naruto was undergoing a special training he created for himself, formed from the advice of a very confused friend of his named Kiyoshi. He started playing chess with himself, writing down all possibilities he had for his next move, and choosing the best. The training stabilized his mind, he was able to think seven moves ahead, and consequentially his clear and flawless thinking calmed him down into a cool, yet social teen.

Hinata's confession changed her completely, in both; mind and appearance. She was no longer shy; Naruto's acceptance wiped all her doubts off clean, and nobody could intimidate her or make her feel sorry for herself. Her old sweater was long gone, replaced by a sleeveless black shirt, with her forehead protector tied around the waist, and a loose scarf around her neck. She even made attempts to color her hair every once in a while, but Hiashi always forced her to wash the dye out.

Ino had given up on good looks ever since the arrival and quick departure of her love. She had destroyed her shallow and immature self when she started training for the boy named Kiyoshi, trying to better herself to find a place in his heart. Her love didn't return from his mission, but kept changing her never the less. She became good friends with Naruto, seeing what Kiyoshi saw in the former sergeant loudmouth. And now failed to see what she once saw in a boy named Sasuke. She watched Sakura in pity, as her good pink-haired friend wouldn't give up hope on Sasuke's return.

The changes in several of Konoha's ninja brought on more change in others, creating new links and bonds of friendship throughout Konoha, thus making the village smaller and familiar to everyone. People became less prejudicial, the dawn of a new generation was starting to change the old one's heart. Yet it still wasn't enough for the seniors of Konoha to stop hating the Kyubi, no matter how much control the Jinchuuriki had over the beast.

Ino picked Naruto up, "What the hell happened to you?"

Naruto groaned, trying to remember the previous night. He was so sure that he didn't go partying or get drunk, but the feeling he had felt too much like a hangover. "Oh yeah... I was being chased by everyone."

Ino didn't ask, for she didn't want to know. Naruto was a good friend, cool and considerate. But the misfortunes were still on his back, and he didn't know how to shake them off.

She brought him to the kitchen, sitting him down on the floor and rummaging through his nearly empty refrigerator. "You're so immature... you have to go grocery shopping more often."

Naruto remembered back to the previous evening, "I went grocery shopping yesterday... those damn dogs made me lose my food..."

Ino stared at him blankly; she was trying to force herself to drop the conversation, but her fun loving self kept screaming to ask what happened to Naruto. "Well, I guess we can go to Ichiraku for breakfast."

Unspeakable joy brewed in Naruto's eyes, "Sure, let's get some people to come with us."

"Let me guess... Hinata?"

"Yeah. Who do you want to bring?"

Ino sighed, "Sakura."

Naruto blew a raspberry at the name. Several months back Sakura used a jutsu on him, making him hate her. Unfortunately the effect was permanent, and now he couldn't stand looking at the pink-haired girl without mumbling an insult. "Fine..."

They took a good half an hour to pick the two girls up from their homes, and were finally on their way to Naruto's favorite source of ramen.

Hinata giggled at her jumpy boyfriend, "Naruto, I think it's time to admit that you're addicted."

The boy of the group smiled, "Silly Hinata, Ichiraku ramen isn't addictive..."

Sakura joined in, "I thought so too, but you are proving me wrong." Naruto blew a raspberry in her direction. She smiled, "Oh, grow up."

Ino stepped in between the two, seeing Naruto getting ready to tackle Sakura into a nearby garbage bin. "So Hinata, have you told your father about Naruto yet?"

Hinata looked down, "That's a dangerous choice. He's not the kind of father that would tolerate, let alone approve my relationship with Naruto."

"And Naruto... you're fine with this?"

Naruto put his arm around Hinata's shoulder, "I'll wait. No need to hurry."

Hinata continued, "He followed me last night, my father." Everyone's stares were fixed on her. "I snuck out to visit Naruto, and he started following me. He knows that I have a boyfriend, I'm just lucky that he didn't force it out of me."

Ino became concerned for the girl, "Hinata, are you... afraid?"

For the last few months, Hinata was a fearless warrior, as long as she was side by side with her boyfriend. Nothing could touch them if they were together. Ino knew this, and was surprised to see Hinata afraid. But she understood the reason perfectly, Hinata wouldn't want Naruto fighting her father, and she feared that it was inevitable.

"Yes," whimpered Hinata. Then let off a surprised yelp as Naruto picked her up by the waist.

"Hinata, I won't fight your father, you have to trust me. I would never let it get to that." whispered Naruto in her ear, and then pecked her cheek with a quick kiss.

Sakura watched the two lovebirds in envy. She would give anything to have that kind of relationship with Sasuke, but it was not meant to be. Her loved one was consumed by hate, and spat back out as an empty shell of a man, seeking nothing but revenge.

Ino also watched Naruto gently handle Hinata, softly putting her back to the ground. "I wonder where Kiyoshi is..." thought the blonde girl.

The four of them arrived at the ramen bar and placed their orders. While they were waiting, a familiar voice came from behind them, "Naruto? A ladies man? Well now I've seen everything."

The blond boy turned around to see Shikamaru lazily sitting on a lamppost. "Shikamaru! Where have you been?" exclaimed Naruto.

"Sand Village..." smirked Shikamaru.

Naruto gave him an inquisitive glance, "How'd it go with..." Naruto didn't want to give Shikamaru's secret away. There were three girls within earshot, so Shikamaru could only give one of two possible answers.

Naruto hoped that Shikamaru would say that he'd tell him later, but instead, Shikamaru's the answer was, "None of your business."

"Ouch, that was harsh," thought Naruto.

To Shikamaru's surprise, the former spas-master gave off a calm shrug and signaled him to join in on their breakfast. "What's wrong with Naruto? What has been happening while I was gone?"

Shikamaru met the infamous Kiyoshi at one point, but left for his mission an hour after Kiyoshi. He didn't know what change brewed in Konoha, the relationship between Naruto and Hinata, the loss of prejudice, or what happened to the person who was the cause of all the change.

Not that Naruto didn't realize Shikamaru's absence disallowed him to watch the change of his comrades; it was just that Naruto didn't care enough to tell him what's been going on. He knew that Shikamaru would catch on fairly quickly without his help, so he let it go and wrapped his hands around Hinata.

Shikamaru was confused beyond grasp. "Did Naruto finally see Hinata? Couldn't be... he must have had help. But who would go out of their way to help them?"

"Oi, Shikamaru." said Kakashi, surprising everyone. The rather large group turned around, listening to what the copy ninja had to say. "Good thing so many of you are gathered here, I won't have to go hunting you down one by one."

Naruto knew what this meant. Kakashi wouldn't go around hunting people down unless there was a mission to be handed out. The boy was twitchy for an adventurous mission, already forgotten what had happened to Kiyoshi that summer. "What's the mission, Kakashi?"

Kakashi shook his head, "No mission... party!"

The teens were startled by the word; they've never had a general party planned out like this. "What kind of party?" asked Ino.

"A dance."

Naruto tackled Kakashi into a lamppost, shaking it, and making Shikamaru fall off and raise a dust cloud. He knew what these parties were about; couples, dating and obviously enough, dancing. What angered him is that this was planned, while Ino didn't fully recover from Kiyoshi. He would assault Tsunade later on that night.

"Naruto!" exclaimed Hinata, running up to him and dragging him away.

Kakashi got up and dusted himself off, "I don't know what to make of that reaction. Are you happy or mad?"

Naruto calmed down; he was making a scene, in front of a small crowd, as Hinata's boyfriend. "I'm sorry."

Ino took Sakura and walked away from the group. "Thanks Naruto, but I'm fine," thought the blonde girl, glancing back at boy.

Kakashi sat down beside Naruto, "What was that about?"

"Ino's not recovered, she must be in a world of hurt right now."

Shikamaru's confusion roared and echoed through the mountains. "Hang on a second. Ino's not recovered from what? Where is Kiyoshi? And how come you are considerate enough to care about her feelings?"

The three remaining team members from that summer's mission told Shikamaru what had happened while he was away. Down to Hinata's confession, every known detail the mission, and the death of Kiyoshi's love; Hikari.

"So what happened to him?" asked Shikamaru, stunned by the heartbreak of the story.

"Nobody knows. He's either dead, or wandering this world without aim," replied Kakashi

"Oh boy, this is troublesome..." thought Shikamaru. "Why hasn't anyone tried to search for him? Having a broken heart makes people do stupid things."

"It wasn't Konoha's number one priority, and he can't hurt himself physically."

Shikamaru shook his head and looked over to Naruto, "Can you imagine if Hinata died?" Naruto's face tightened with shock, he hadn't considered this before, and he didn't want to. "It's not physical damage that a person goes through, it's mental and spiritual.

Kakashi got up, leaving the three remaining teens to converse. "Don't forget, party tomorrow at eight. Shikamaru, you might meet someone there for yourself."

Naruto snickered, "Who's clueless now?" Kakashi ignored the comment and ran off in search of more teens to invite. "Shikamaru, maybe you should..."

Shikamaru cut him off, "Be quiet Naruto. I'll talk to Tsunade about it. Speaking of which, I'm not very pleased with you."

"What do you mean?"

Hinata was lost; she had no idea what they were talking about. "What is going on?"

"Will you please tell her?" asked Naruto.

Shikamaru got up and started leaving, "You love to spread this around don't you? You didn't have to tell Tsunade about it."

Naruto was surprised, "I didn't tell Tsunade anything, she must've figured it out herself."

"I'll ask her today. In the meanwhile, be quiet."

Hinata stared at Naruto blankly, as sadness fell over her boyfriend's face. "What was that about?"

Naruto was disappointed to have nearly lost a good friend for no good reason what so ever. "Please, Hinata, don't ask me. I don't want to keep secrets from you, but I don't want to be put in these kinds of situations. It's not my secret to share."

"I understand."

Shikamaru stared at the clouds as he walked down the streets of Konoha, heading towards the Hokage's building. He didn't know how to feel; his reasoning kept shifting points of view and feelings on the subject. The whole reason he got a chance for something as amazing as a vacation to Suna, was because Tsunade knew his secret. Would that mean Naruto couldn't keep his mouth shut? Or did Shikamaru just get mad at a good friend for something he didn't do? "Troublesome..." thought Shikamaru


	3. Chapter 3 Reunion Party

Chapter 3 

The air was cool and moist, making the fallen leaves stick to the teen's boots as he walked down a path filled with memories. Nothing could change the past; all he could do is observe it as if it were a play or book. Things could have turned out better than they did, but they could have been worse too. Not disappointment, but bliss fell over the longhaired blond traveler as he made his way past half empty trees of orange and red leaves.

Naruto was getting prepared for the party, trying to find an orange suit that made him look best. "I definitely should have taken Hinata's advice..." thought Naruto, as he observed the messy looking person in his mirror.

A knock came on the door; Hinata was there to pick him up. Naruto imagined what would have happened if he went to pick her up instead, then shuddered at the image of his beat up and motionless body being dragged out of the Hyuga estate. He quickly put some cologne on and rushed over to the door.

Opening the door, allowing the delicate, yet dangerous Hinata walk inside. He watched her in awe as she let herself in. She wore a light-violet dress, slits on the sides, open shoulders, and very revealing. Hair flowed back in a glossy river, and high-heeled shoes to match her dress. She giggled at Naruto's stunned expression, "You're going to make me blush,"

Naruto snapped out of it, "Sorry." He turned around and got jumped away from the mirror, being terrified by its reflection. "Hinata, can you help me? I can't find anything good to wear.

The girl walked over to his wardrobe, only to be frozen with shock. Nothing but orange suits and black t-shirts. "Why didn't you get anything presentable?" Asked the girl, turning to Naruto, who was too embarrassed to reply. "Never mind, we'll have to improvise."

"How?"

Hinata took out an orange jacket and put it over Naruto's shoulders. "We have to do something with your hair..." Naruto looked over his current attire. His usual jacket, hanging loosely over his shoulders, emphasizing the cool in his black t-shirt. Hinata got some water and combed his hair back, into a tidy hairstyle. "This is definitely you," giggled the girl, and kissed him on the cheek.

Naruto felt warm; nobody had ever looked after him the way Hinata did, somewhat resembling the care of a mother he never had.

The night grew, the couple left Naruto's residence to go to the party, and pick up several people on the way there. Many people refused; Shino considered the whole idea of parties to be silly, Shikamaru refused to go for a reason he wouldn't tell them, and they had to drag Sakura out of her bed with Ino's help. The night brewed, the deep, ground shaking music could be heard and felt from miles around. There wasn't any need to go to the party, people stayed home and still felt like they were there, dancing with their friends.

As the group of four headed to the source of loud music and fun, they heard the melody change into something familiar. The sound somewhat resembled drumming, bass and violins, they followed the rhythmic beats to Konoha ninja academy's front doors. Their mouths fell wide open after they saw what happened to their former school; the whole school was changed into a big concert, roof was the stage, big speaker in front of the doors, people dancing in any empty space they could find.

They looked up on the roof to find even more amazement; Choji was beat boxing, creating the best background beat a rapper would ever want. They looked around for the rapper who hadn't stepped in yet. A voice took up the empty spot in the song, a familiar voice that Hinata used to hear every day back when she was on her team; Kiba's voice.

To everyone's amazement, Kiba made an amazing rapper, and an even better singer when the song turned into that of the rock genre. Choji took up the drums, as Lee stepped up with a swinging electric-guitar solo, softening the music into a slow-dance song.

Naruto couldn't help but snicker at his friends, and yet be slightly jealous of their never before seen talents. He decided to break the ice. "Shall we?" asked the boy, offering his hand to Hinata for a dance.

"Sure," smiled the girl.

Sakura and Ino watched the couple disappear into the vast crowd. "What do we do now?" asked the pink-haired girl.

Ino patted her head, "Time to go hunting for a guy."

Sakura chuckled, "So much for the mature Ino..."

"No... Not a guy for me," replied the blonde, "A guy for you."

Sakura tried to run away, but found herself caught by the collar and dragged into the crowd. "Let me go Ino! I don't want any guy but Sasuke!"

Ino shook her head, "I wish Sasuke was here, so that we could get rid of her crush on him... like we did with Naruto," thought the girl.

Sakura screamed and kicked, but her friend wouldn't let her down. Eventually the hauling came to a stop and she found herself tossed into the arms of a boy, "Damn it, Ino..." thought Sakura before looking up at the guy holding her, and giving off a sweet smile of satisfaction. "Thanks."

A chill went down Ino's spine, one she hadn't felt in a long time. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something was out of place. Not knowing whether it was good or bad, a smile crept over her face; instinct told her that she wanted this chill for a while now.

The soft rock session was coming to an end, yet nobody knew. The guitar and singing were fading, until only a solid beat from Choji's drums could be heard. The percussion started becoming intense; hard kicking blows, and brushing hi-hats came in, setting the mood up for what came next in line.

Nothing happened but Choji's changing hard beats. No change until a series of short, tempered turntable scratches started to fade into the musical composition. A cloud of green smoke exploded on the rooftop, initializing the deep, raving melody that was nobody's but Sai's.

Smoke cleared, revealing the emotionless boy, pressing his headphones down with one hand, the other in charge of a pair of turntables and big boards of knobs, which were his DJ set.

Loud cheering from the crowd was overwhelmed by the deep and loud club techno music that was the combination of Choji's beats and Sai's melody.

Naruto turned to Hinata and smirked, now was their chance to show the crowd what they were capable of. Their fighting style which could be easily interpreted as a dance, fit into the music with ease.

Hinata smiled back and nodded, indicating her approval to start the show. Naruto stepped back and stretched his hands out to the sides, making the people around him nervous and step back. He calmly leant forward and jumped up into the air, creating several back flips.

Hinata ran in, catching his hand as he was still going up, and pulled him back down in a spring-like retraction.

Naruto was in a vertical and motionless handstand, Hinata standing over him in a battle stance. A moment passed before the two started their action; Naruto spun around, legs together and stretched out upwards, standing on the ever-shifting fingertips.

Hinata went low and tripped him off his hands with a sweeping kick, flinging him upwards through the air, still spinning. While her boyfriend was airborne, she spun around, lifting her feet off the ground with sweeping jump-kicks that went in all directions. Yet still remained under the airborne Naruto.

Naruto stretched his fists out to the sides as he fell back down to the ground, spinning in a dangerous fury of attacks. Falling down, headfirst, he relied on Hinata's concentration to execute the next move. But he wasn't worried; they had been training this beautiful battle-dance for the past two months, they were separate, but at the same time they were one in spirit.

Hinata saw Naruto falling down several feet to her left; she changed the course of her next move several degrees in his direction, and back flipped. Clinging on to his hands in midair and making them spin around eachother, they created something resembling a ying-yang.

Everyone around, watched the couple in awe; a dance that's best described as team break-dancing. Tsunade watched the event from the above in amusement, "I'd love to see that style in actual combat... looks very promising."

A ninja appeared at her side, "Tsunade-sama, we have a problem."

Tsunade didn't turn away from the dance of a ninja couple, "Hm?"

"Tsunade-sama, this is serious!" exclaimed the guard.

"What is it? I'm listening," replied the Godaime, still watching the events below.

"We have an intruder! This guy used the village dance to their advantage! We need to find and dispose of him!" yelled the ninja.

"Estimated age?"

"He is in his late teens." Replied the man. Tsunade looked up from the crowd and did something that the ninja couldn't grasp with logic; she smiled. "Tsunade-sama... what are your orders?"

"You're back..." thought the Tsunade. The woman looked down at the ground again, "Don't do anything, there's no need for commotion over that kid."

"But Tsunade-sama!"

"I said go back to your post and keep watch! This kid is a friend."

The ninja didn't understand her reasoning, but followed her orders never the less. "Hai!"

Tsunade couldn't help but smile, "Have you gotten over her? Did you come here looking for a home again?"

Naruto and Hinata kept their movements going, supporting each other's otherwise impossible moves. It was time to take it to the next level; Hinata tossed her boyfriend into the air, as he summoned a couple dozen clones and fell back down to join Hinata's side. They used the group of clones as an obstacle course, creating death-defying flips and spins, thus making the crowd dizzy.

The longhaired boy in a trench coat walked down the dark streets of Konoha, drawn by the raving sounds resembling those of an underground club. Walking and thinking of the various thoughts he had earlier; the things he changed and the people he saved, for better or for worse, he killed other human beings. He felt like the grim reaper, yet an event he experienced a month earlier proved his feeling to be wrong. Someone stepped into his life, changing him once again.

Ino's chill turned into a heart-warming sensation, whatever brought it on was nearby, and she wanted to know who or what it was. She forced her way out of the crowd.

Naruto and Hinata kept going until a dark figure stepped up. The cloaked person grabbed them by the ankles and tossed them up into the air.

Hinata turned to look at Naruto, he nodded. The stranger offered hostility, he would get a hostile reaction in return. They flipped over and fell back down towards the cloaked stranger. Instead of landing, they skipped directly to the attacking, both swinging their kicks into his face.

The stranger, hood covering his sight completely, blocked the counter-attack, but didn't toss them up into the air again, he didn't have enough time. His movements were much like theirs, he evaded and moved their attacks off to the side, before they turn around and engage again.

Nobody knew whether this was a part of the show, but wouldn't want to interfere in either case. The band watched the fight below, speeding the beat up to see if the three dancers could keep up.

Naruto was oblivious; this was just another opponent for him and Hinata to take down, but more difficult.

Hinata's stomach started tingling in anticipation; the fight gave her a feeling, a feeling that she had felt a few months before. Still not able to remember whom this opponent was, she concentrated on trying to take him down. The more they tried to take this person down, the more he matched their speed and agility. She finally remembered who he was, the only boy she ever knew to hold his attacks back in order to balance the fight. "It can't be..."

The stranger lifted his head, revealing a smile under his hood, "I see you went far with this style."

Naruto and Hinata jumped back, landing several meters away from him to watch him remove his cloak.

Before Kiyoshi could take his disguise off, a blonde girl ran up to him and hugged him. She didn't need to see him to know that he was Kiyoshi, she remembered the chill she had before, the chill brought on by the thought of Kiyoshi's death. "Never leave again..."

Naruto still didn't know who this person was, but the girls seemed to know him. "Who are you?"

Kiyoshi threw the cloak off, "still don't remember me?"

Naruto couldn't believe his eyes. The guy who changed his life, opened his eyes and mind, had come back from the dead. "What happened to you?" Asked the whiskered boy, examining Kiyoshi's scars.

Kiyoshi looked up, revealing three long scars running from the bottom of his jaw and down the neck. "The explosion cut up my throat pretty badly."

Hinata flinched from the thought; it looked as if there were three metal plates that entered his neck diagonally. "Don't do that again..."

It didn't take long before Naruto and Hinata went back to the dance, Ino went home, and Kiyoshi found a bench he could sit on and talk to himself. Tsunade watched the boy, "So you're back... and even less sane than you were before."

Kiyoshi's eyes widened for no reason, he reached inside his coat and pulled out something rectangular. "Tsunade-sama! Catch!" yelled the boy, tossing a box of chocolates to the hidden Godaime.

She caught the box, "How did he notice me?" thought the woman.

The party went deep into the night, making everyone sleep in the next day. An unsanitary method of reunion on Kiyoshi's behalf, but an effective appearance to the public.


	4. Chapter 4 Mistakes

Chapter 4 

Kiyoshi woke up with a scream, an old habit that he would have to break before an angry mob chases him out of Konoha. He looked around, recognizing the residence given to him several months back. Nothing was changed, removed, touched, or out of place; Tsunade knew he would eventually come back, so she didn't give his home away.

He got up, feeling light; somebody took his weights off. Kiyoshi tried to think back to the previous night, managing to only remember vague blurs of events. The only thing he could conclude was that he got drunk out of his mind, and somebody had to take him home. He searched every corner of the house, his weights were nowhere to be found; he had to ask someone, a person that always keeps tabs on him. He activated his blood-limit; three radioactive-green glowing lines circled his eye, and corners of the iris stretched out into sharp points.

He looked around the room, "Who took my weights?" asked the teen out loud.

Naruto was starting to wake up, looking at the clock to realize that he's late. Not the usual kind of late, but several hours over-late. He jumped up from his bed and rushed over to the closet. Observing himself in the mirror, he found out that he had really messy hair. He turned back to find Hinata still sleeping in his bed.

"What the hell?" exclaimed the boy, recalling the previous night. He then gave off a relieved sigh, satisfied by the fact that they were both still virgins, "Her dad would have killed me."

He made breakfast, not sparing any resources left in his kitchen. He went grocery shopping the previous day, spending the rest of his savings on the bare essentials. He didn't have much money, since the village didn't get many missions, and so ramen was out of question with lack of funds to spend on. Luckily enough, the boy had matured over the previous several months. He started to learn how to cook, and in the process nearly burned his house down several times.

He made a beautiful breakfast-in-bed for Hinata, and even snatched several growing flowers from the neighbor's balcony to accompany the food.

Hinata woke up, smell of pancakes giving her a warm welcome into the new day. She sat up, leaning against the wall behind the bed, and yawned. "Naruto? Where are you?"

The boy walked in, carrying a tray of pancakes, syrup, eggs, and tea. "Good morning." replied Naruto.

Hinata was astonished by Naruto's behavior; he was now considerate enough to wake up earlier than her, make breakfast-in-bed. She had wondered something for a while, what the source of Naruto's maturity was. There were several factors; losing his crush on Sakura, and his new training method, both of which affected his reasoning and cleared his mind. But it must have been something else, most likely something deeper, like love, but could have been fear.

Another thing that had been bothering her was about Kiyoshi; at the party on the previous night, he sat on a bench and talked to himself. "Naruto..."

He turned his head away from the food and looked at Hinata, "Hm?"

"Did you notice anything strange about Kiyoshi last night?"

Naruto thought about it, "Now that you mention it, yeah, he was talking to himself."

"What do you think of that?"

Naruto smiled, "I think he was just drunk. Otherwise he wouldn't have been able to handle our attacks by himself."

The girl looked down and smiled, "I hope you're right."

"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?" he paused, "You don't think he's..."

She looked back at him, "I don't know what to make of his behavior. He's a strong drinker; he drank two bottles of sake in front of me without getting too drunk. To think he passed out last night, he must have had a lot."

"I see what you mean." agreed Naruto, "But what do you make of Kiyoshi talking to himself? Overdrinking, or do you think he's finally lost it?"

"I don't know... but whatever it is, I don't think it's good for him."

A knock came on the door, startling the two teens out of the conversation. Naruto looked over to his girlfriend, "Did we have plans for today? Are we late for something?"

Hinata shrugged, "I don't think so..."

The boy got up and started walking towards the door. Another knock came; harder and more pissed off than the previous. "Coming!" replied Naruto. He unlocked the door and pulled it open. After observing the visitor, he wished that he had stayed quiet and not opened the door. "Shit..." he said out loud, seeing none other than Hiashi standing on his doorstep.

Hinata shuddered in fear, for what Hiashi saw wouldn't please him much; Naruto opened the door with no shirt on, Hinata was in his bed, eating breakfast. "Oh no..."

Hiashi's face reddened, as if he was about to punch several hundred holes through the boy in front of him. "What is the meaning of this..." hissed Hinata's dad.

Naruto backed up, waving his hands in an apologetic manner. "Hiashi-sama... I can explain!"

The man stepped inside with a dangerous face, horrors that could cut an anvil in half brewed in his eyes. "I'd love an explanation for this... one that won't anger me further..." replied Hiashi, advancing even further towards Naruto.

"Well you see... Hinata and I... um, we love eachother... but we didn't... we're still..." Naruto couldn't finish one sentence before starting the other. He threw random gibberish at Hiashi, who was getting enraged by every spoken vowel.

"Tell me, squirt..." started Hiashi. Naruto shut his eyes in fear, as Hiashi forced him into a corner and advanced even closer. "Where's the candy?"

Naruto opened his eyes, "What?"

Hiashi loosened up, "Where's the candy?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Trick or treat!" screamed Kiyoshi, turning back into his original state from the disguise of Hinata's father.

Naruto turned red with rage, "It's not Halloween, you dolt!!!" roared the whiskered boy.

Kiyoshi's smile faded, "April fool's?"

"That was months ago!!!"

"Merry Christmas?"

Naruto's rage exploded as he threw Kiyoshi out of his house. "Learn the freaking calendar you jackass!" screamed Naruto and slammed the door shut.

Hinata watched Naruto storm back inside. "Naruto..."

"I'm sorry, perhaps I'm not ready for the introduction either," said Naruto.

Another knock came on the door, Naruto decided to ignore this one. "Open the door!" yelled Kiyoshi, "That's not the reason I came! I just thought that it would be funny!"

Naruto opened the door, "What do you want?"

"I want my weights back."

"What makes you think I have them?"

"What makes you think you don't?"

Naruto was stunned; nobody knew that he had snatched Kiyoshi's weights. "How did he find out?" thought the blond boy. "What are you talking about?"

"Just give me my weights back and I'll leave you and Hinata alone."

"What makes you think I have them?"

Kiyoshi shook his head, "Are we back at that again?"

Naruto sighed; Kiyoshi was annoying, but that didn't stop him from being right. "Fine, come in." Kiyoshi entered the house, and went directly to the stash without Naruto having to show him where they were hidden. Naruto watched Kiyoshi, as the guy removed a small board from the wall in the back of his closet, "How did you know where they were?"

Kiyoshi started putting them back on, "That doesn't matter. What concerns me is the fact that you took them. Why did you steal my weights?"

Naruto didn't want to have this conversation in front of Hinata; he dragged Kiyoshi into the kitchen. "I want to become even stronger."

Kiyoshi didn't hold back on the smack. Naruto shook the hit off. "Naruto... are you stupid again?"

"I want to become strong to protect Hinata!"

Kiyoshi shook his head, "You are stupid again..." He looked back at the kid, "That is not the kind of strength you desire... it's dangerous for both; you and her."

Naruto turned away, "You don't know what you're talking about."

Kiyoshi Grabbed Naruto and started slapping him as if trying to wake him up. "Listen to yourself! Who would know better than me?" hissed Kiyoshi, trying to keep his voice down so that Hinata doesn't hear. "I still can't function properly without them. I weigh eleven hundred pounds because of the idiocy of my youth, and I have to be careful all the time if I don't want to break through the floor or the chairs I sit on. I am a cripple because of those weights!"

"You are out of your tiny little mind too! Why should I listen to you? Your sanity is long gone, and you're a lunatic!"

Kiyoshi let go of Naruto. "Insane?" sniffed the blond boy, "Fine. I don't care what you do to yourself, but think what's better for Hinata." replied Kiyoshi and walked out of the house.

Naruto stood in the kitchen, alone. Hinata walked in, "What happened? Why did Kiyoshi leave?"

Naruto sighed; he totally forgot about Kiyoshi's troubles, the problems he faced due to his weight. All Kiyoshi did was look out for Naruto's skin, Naruto's heart, but all he got in return was a harsh reply from the very kid he was trying to help, Naruto really hurt him. "I really am stupid."


	5. Chapter 5 Worthy

Chapter 5

Naruto gave his farewell to Hinata; her father wouldn't be too pleased by the fact that she spent the whole night away from home. Yet still he knew that he would be too afraid to face Hiashi. He wondered about the reason behind his fear, the only thing Naruto could conclude was that he didn't consider himself worthy of Hinata.

Naruto hung his head in shame as he walked back home, "What am I supposed to say to him when he asks me why I'm worth it? I'm the Jinchuuriki, I have to have something big to make up for that."

Naruto passed the usual places; every route home, he knew like the back of his hand. This had become a daily routine, yet something was out of place.

"You should go after your original goals," said a voice from the above.

Naruto stopped and looked up at the speaker, only to get blinded by the sun. The boy was sitting on a fence, searching the sky for clouds. "Which was?"

"You don't remember?" asked Kiyoshi, "Did I make you smarter or dumber?"

Naruto sat down against the fence, under Kiyoshi. He needed to apologize for what he had said earlier, but didn't know how. "Do you mean my dedication to become Hokage?"

"Hai. That's a truly noble cause to dedicate yourself to, as long as there's more to it than proving yourself to someone."

Naruto smiled, "I gave that up a while ago. I want to become Hokage to protect this village."

Kiyoshi didn't look down at the boy sitting under him, "Seems to me like you still have something to prove to someone..."

"What makes you say that?"

Kiyoshi's smile faded, "You stole my weights. There's no doubt that you want to use them."

"I want to become stronger to protect everyone!" exclaimed Naruto

"These weights are fool's strength," replied the blond boy. "Who do you want to impress?"

Naruto looked down at the ground, "Nobody."

Suddenly it hit Kiyoshi, like a sledgehammer; Naruto was trying to gain strength in order to get the respect of Hinata's father. "You idiot... her dad will disapprove of you even more than he would now."

Naruto sharply looked up at Kiyoshi, "How did you know?"

"Never mind that," replied Kiyoshi, "Naruto, there are three kinds of power; influential, mental, and physical."

"So?"

Kiyoshi dropped a rock down at Naruto, "So you're seeking the wrong kind of power!"

Naruto thought about it for a moment, "What you're saying, is that I need influential power?"

"And I thought your brain needed a trip to the mechanic," joked Kiyoshi, "Yes, you have plenty of the other two for now. In order to get influential power, you need to come up with some sort of plan to get it."

"Such as?"

"Work on becoming the Hokage."

Naruto sighed, "I've been doing that for my entire life."

Kiyoshi dropped another rock at Naruto, "Has that gotten you anywhere?"

"No..."

"Do you know why?"

"No..." Kiyoshi dropped a third rock at Naruto. "Stop that!"

"It's because you're stubborn, and you don't want to learn anything that you would need for the job,■ replied Kiyoshi

"That's not true..."

"Shut up!" screamed Kiyoshi, this time flinging the rocks down at Naruto, "Stop being stubborn!"

Naruto covered his head, "Where in the hell do you get these rocks?" screamed the whiskered kid in pain.

Kiyoshi stopped plowing Naruto with gravel and looked back up to the sky. "Naruto... ever since I left, have you visited the library even once?"

Naruto looked down, in shame again. It was true; he wasn't dedicating himself to becoming Hokage hard enough. He had been busy training his mind to cooperate with his strength, but totally forgot what he wanted to be. He wanted to be more than just a ninja, he wanted to be the Hokage; the father of every man, woman and child of Konoha. He couldn't do that with just combat skills; he needed to learn how to stay calm, how to be persistent through any boring job, how to be responsible, wise and mature.

Kiyoshi jumped down and started walking home, "Naruto, I'm sorry about what I said earlier..."

Naruto looked up in shock; Kiyoshi was sorry for saying something, when it was Naruto who said something harsh and unsanitary. "What..."

"What I said earlier isn't true," Kiyoshi continued, walking away. "I said that I don't care what you do to yourself... that's not true at all."

Naruto stood back up and watched his friend walk away, speechless. He felt like a jerk; he couldn't get himself to apologize for what he said to Kiyoshi, and still Kiyoshi was watching out for his skin. Nothing could stop his feeling of betrayal, feeling as if he hurt a family member. "Kiyoshi..."

Kiyoshi was already far away when Naruto could grasp reality again, waving his hand back at the whiskered boy. "Oh, and Naruto!" yelled Kiyoshi, "I forgive you!"

Something snapped inside Naruto, he never had the feeling before; he had friends, they helped him through some hard times, but this was only the second time he felt like he had a family that watched over him, the first was Hinata. Naruto sighed, "what a day..."

Hinata snuck into her room, to find that Neji was already waiting for her inside. "Neji-kun..." Her cousin was calmly sitting on a chair, eyes closed, waiting for an explanation. "Does father know?"

"He knows that you snuck out to go to the party yesterday," replied the boy.

"That's not what I meant."

"Hiashi doesn't know who your guy is, but he knows you're going out with someone."

Hinata sat down and rested her head on her hands, "Neji-sama, what am I going to do?"

Neji didn't lift his head or his eyes to look up at Hinata, "First of all, tell me who he is."

"You know I can't do that."

"Why not? I'm here to help you out, anything you tel..."

Hinata cut him off in mid-speech, "Naruto's my boyfriend."

Neji stopped speaking. His mouth fell wide open in shock, "Wow Hinata... I thought you were just going through a phase, but this is serious."

"Shut up..." replied Hinata, surprising her cousin once again. "Naruto is not the problem, my father is."

Neji sighed, "What happened between the two of you back on that mission?"

Hinata just realized that Neji hadn't met the new and improved Naruto. "You need to talk to him sometime, you'll be surprised."

"No thanks, I don't think I can handle any more surprises."

Hinata sat down; she needed to get a family member on her side if she was going to make the relationship happen. "He's changed, Neji. Naruto has become a gentleman, he's matured."

Neji smirked, "Very likely..."

Hinata threw a pair of shoes at Neji, "You don't believe me? Come see for yourself!"

Neji agreed, "I'll come, I need some fresh air anyways. It's probably going to be a comical experience to meet him again."

The cousin shut up when he noticed Hinata's deadly stare fixed upon him. "Watch your mouth Neji... until you see him, you have no right to comment any further."

The boy couldn't say a word; the confidence and threat of Hinata's scary eyes overwhelmed his speech. "Is this Hinata?" thought Neji.

The two pale-eyed teens searched the streets of Konoha for Hinata's boyfriend, failing to find a single clue as to where he had gone. They searched more than half of Konoha until they came by Kiyoshi's house.

Kiyoshi was lying on the couch and drinking jasmine tea, when a soft knock came on his door. "Come in!"

The knob turned, and in came Hinata, followed by her cousin. "Hey Kiyoshi-kun..."

Kiyoshi sat up and gave a suspicious glance at Neji, "Hey Hinata... What brings you to my place?"

Neji stepped up, "Who are you?"

Kiyoshi however, remembered the boy in front of him. He took out a card and tossed it at Neji, "Here's my citizenship, jackass. This time I'm prepared for your bullshit!"

Neji was confused; he was experiencing a lot of hate that day. "Have we met before?" asked Neji, trying to remember Kiyoshi's face.

"You met me in the summer! I'm the guy you demanded proof of citizenship from!"

Neji remembered, "Oh it's you! I heard you were dead. Should I make it so?"

Hinata stepped in between the two hooligans before they started killing each other. "Enough you two."

Neji turned away, Kiyoshi sat down on his bed again. "What did you want to ask me?"

"Have you seen Naruto?"

Kiyoshi became worried; Hinata could always find Naruto wherever he would be. "Hang on... you can't find him? You? Hinata?" Asked Kiyoshi. The girl shook her head. "This could be bad... if you can't find him, something must have happened."

"Did you talk to him?"

"Yeah, just a few hours ago. I reminded him of his goal to become Hokage."

Hinata thought about it, but couldn't think of anything she could associate this clue with. "Anything else?"

Kiyoshi reminisced the conversation, "Oh my god... I know where he is, follow me."

The three teens ran out of the house. Hinata and Neji followed Kiyoshi in the direction of the Hokage building. "Where are we going?" asked Hinata.

"Don't worry, you'll be proud," smiled Kiyoshi

They ran into the building, followed its curved hallways until they reached a door, unguarded. "Where are we?" asked Hinata.

Kiyoshi put his index finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet. "Can't you remember? We were here in the summer," whispered Kiyoshi.

Hinata's eyes widened; she remembered this place, it was the library they used for research on the summer's mission. "He's in there?"

Kiyoshi didn't reply, but instead he opened the door. Neji's eyes widened with shock, as he observed the picture before him in disbelief. "What the hell..." asked the boy, unable to grasp the concept of a studying Naruto. 


	6. Chapter 6 Knowledge

Chapter 6 

The three teens left Naruto to study, and were on their way back to their homes. Hinata was smiling with satisfaction as she glanced back at Neji's astonishment. Kiyoshi was going home and thinking over his plans for his future in Konoha.

Hinata patted the blond boy on the shoulder, "Kiyoshi-kun... what happened between you and Neji?"

Kiyoshi understood the reason for the question perfectly well; Hinata had always known him to be a cheery person, and the show he pulled on Neji didn't seem like the Kiyoshi she knew. "He was rude to me when I first came here, and looked down on me as if he was more worthy of life than I am. You have no idea how much that angers me."

Hinata didn't understand, "But there have been so many people before that looked down on us, I've never seen you as angry as you were with Neji."

"That's because I knew that if I had become pissed off, a fight would start. Besides, most of those people started the fight and died by my hand. I have no anger towards them, just pity."

"What about the Lost Soul army?"

Kiyoshi remembered the uncalled prejudice he faced back when they met the army of lost families. "They were scared of me, but they had every right to be. Most of them knew about my clan."

Shock passed through the girl's face, "Did you find out something about your clan?"

Kiyoshi put his hands in his pockets and looked down. "Yeah."

"That's great!" smiled Hinata, "Did you find out who your parents were?"

Kiyoshi didn't look up; he kept his face hidden from Hinata. "Yeah."

Hinata was becoming edgy with anticipation, "Well... are you going to tell me?"

The longhaired blond boy didn't say anything, just kept walking. Hinata's smile faded, she ran around him and crouched to look at his face; it showed nothing but sorrow, Kiyoshi found something he regretted searching for. "Kiyoshi..."

"I don't want to talk about it right now, I'll tell you later." replied the teen, walking around Hinata.

Hinata was sorry for bringing it up, but she had no way of knowing the consequence of doing so. "God damn..."

Neji watched Kiyoshi walked away, then turned to Hinata. "What happened to his clan?"

Hinata stood back up, and headed back home. "They were slaughtered."

The boy's eyes widened, he looked back and forth between Hinata and Kiyoshi who were walking away in opposite directions. "What the hell is going on around here? Where did this guy come from?"

Naruto was sitting in the Hokage's library alongside several clones, all reading books on diplomatic matters, history and economics of Konoha. He yawned; this was the most boring work he had ever done. Naruto summoned another clone to slap him awake.

"Finished!" said one clone, putting a finance book away on a shelf.

"Then disappear." replied Naruto, not lifting his eyes from the book in his hands.

The clone disappeared in a puff of smoke, making another one exclaim "So that's what this means! I didn't understand this one bit without finance!"

Naruto smiled, his mind training was paying off. Before, if he were to study these books, linking the information together would be impossible. Especially if he had many clones studying the books at the same time, everything would become hectic and unorganized. "Thanks Kiyoshi..."

Tsunade's eyes filled with tears as she observed the big pile of documents on her desk. She sighed and picked up the one on top, examining the pointless information. If these were missions, she would have fun matchmaking them with the village's ninja. But these were useless reports on landslides and victims of muggings. She crumpled the paper up and threw it at the window in anger, making the glass shatter. "Who keeps putting this garbage on my desk?" screamed the Godaime for the whole village to hear.

Shizune rushed in, "What's wrong, Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade slightly turned her head to look at her assistant with a crazed eye, "Tell me, why are there no missions anymore?"

Shizune, terrified by Tsunade's profile, replied, "I-I-I don't know, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade calmed down and walked over to the coat hanger. "I'm going to the library to calm down, I'll be back soon," said the Godaime, putting on her coat and leaving the office.

Kiyoshi lay on his bed, remembering the clue he found earlier in September. "How do I stop the third transformation?"

Many years had passed since the slaughter of the Joukei clan; the owners of the legendary ability of foresight. From what Kiyoshi gathered, the clan was mercilessly slaughtered because of their lack of submission to a higher order.

Kiyoshi couldn't understand the spiciest logic behind the whole affair. A tear brewed in his eye, he quickly wiped it off, "Hikari... I'll have to tell them soon..."

Neji listened to the story of the summer's mission, taking in everything he heard rather intensely. "Hikari died?" whispered Neji, wide-eyed.

Hinata nodded, "Kiyoshi is emotionally and mentally unstable because of that, I've seen him talk to himself. But he's a good person never the less, he watches out for Naruto and me. Without trying to be, Kiyoshi is like a father to Naruto; the matured Naruto you saw in the library was Kiyoshi's doing. Cut him some slack."

Neji sat back in astonishment, to think that the blond boy he just met was not only a fierce warrior, but also the reason behind Naruto's maturity and Hinata's relationship with him, was overwhelming. "Why? What are his motives?"

Hinata shrugged, "I don't know, he's always quiet about everything that relates himself. If you don't trust everyone's opinions, then take Tsunade's word on Kiyoshi's loyalty to Konoha."

Neji frowned, "Hinata... you know I'm just being careful."

"Well stop it! He's a good person, and wouldn't hurt a fly unless he really had to!" exclaimed Hinata, "You're hurting him."

Neji decided to drop the conversation, "Fine, let's get back to your problem."

Hinata had almost forgotten why she dragged Neji around the village in the first place, "What do you think of Naruto?"

The boy sighed, "I need to sleep on it, all of this is very sudden."

Tsunade yawned, walking through the long hallways of doors. "Stupid architects... putting a library so far away from the Hokage's office..." mumbled the Godaime.

Naruto and his pack of clones had gone through many sets of books, with countless more ahead of them. But Naruto already organized everything in order to get a better and clearer understanding of the contents.

"Finished!" exclaimed a clone, put the book back on the shelf, and disappeared.

"Done!" exclaimed another and did the same.

Naruto was a bit disappointed by the fact that he had never studied before; he had so much catching up to do. Yawning, he observed several rows of books he already went through that day, he couldn't have had such success if not for his ability to clone himself.

Tsunade barged in, making several clones blow up in smoke, the rest tumbling in all directions. "What the hell is going on here?" yelled the pissed off Godaime.

Naruto flinched; he had forgotten to get her approval to use the library. "Hey, Baa-chan..."

She looked down at him, "Naruto! Have you been studying jutsu without supervision?" roared Tsunade.

He crawled back a bit, "No, I haven't!"

Tsunade calmed down a bit, "Then why are you here?"

Naruto stood up and brushed himself off, "I was studying. I'm very sorry I didn't get permission to use the library though."

"You didn't answer my question."

"I'm studying diplomacy, history and economics of Konoha," replied Naruto.

This calmed Tsunade down completely, "Why?"

Naruto grinned, "I won't give up trying to become Hokage just because I'm matured."

Tsunade lifted an eyebrow, "I think maturity and the desire to become Hokage are two opposite things. Get your facts straight."

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind," sighed Tsunade, "How much have you learned today?"

Naruto started picking up the books that his clones dropped when Tsunade entered. "Most of these, and those three rows," replied Naruto, pointing at a nearby shelf.

Tsunade's eyes widened, "Come with me," said the Godaime, leading him out of the library and through a long hallway.

Naruto summoned several clones to finish reading the books, and followed Tsunade out the door. "Where are we going?"

"I have a job for you."

"What kind of job?"

"One with good pay and experience."

Naruto didn't understand, but followed the Hokage through the building. The knowledge of Naruto's disappearing clones flowed through his mind as the two ninja entered Tsunade's office.

"What's the job?"

Tsunade opened her desk and took several books out. "Read these, I'll be back soon. I need to verify something," replied Tsunade, leaving the room.

Naruto observed the books; they were all Hokage's handbooks, involving updated information on the diplomacies of the surrounding countries, horribly mutilated financial statements, ninja lists, citizen lists, categorized reports on various missions, and so on. Naruto shrugged, summoned several clones and started reading.

Naruto became more and more tired with each clone's completion of his task; his body was itching to get some exercise, but his mind was yearning for some sleep.

Shizune entered to find Naruto with a small pile of Tsunade's books. "Naruto! What are you doing?" screamed the assistant, rushing to grab the books away from the teen.

"Tsunade said she had a job for me, and then she left me alone to read these Hokage files," yawned the blond boy.

Shizune calmed down, "Are you lying?"

Naruto shrugged, "Do what you want, but please wake me up when she comes back."

She watched Naruto in silence, as the teen made himself comfortable on the floor and fell asleep. "He's not kidding... Tsunade really did offer him a job. What on earth is she thinking?"

"I'm tired! I need a vacation!" screamed Tsunade.

"What you're asking us to do is very unsanitary," replied one of the senators.

Tsunade wouldn't have it from them. "I don't care! You know perfectly well that he'll make a great replacement!"

"You have to consider the safety of everyone in the village."

"What on earth are you talking about?"

The senator slammed his palms on the table, "Making him Hokage is out of the question!"

Tsunade stood up, "I'm taking a break whether you want me to or not, and just whom are you going to replace me with? That pervert Jiraiya will sink the village into the ground with his pornographic novels, and I don't think you want to do any work yourself either," smirked the Godaime, "Who are you going to replace me with?"

The other senator put her hand on the man's shoulder to calm him down, "Alright... have it your way."

Tsunade lifted an eyebrow; she knew there would be a catch. "Name the conditions."

Shizune was trying to shake Naruto awake, when Tsunade entered the office. "Tsunade-sama! Is it true you're giving him a job?" exclaimed the woman.

"Yeah."

Shizune's eyes widened, "Tsunade-sama... what did you do?"

A rare smile crept across the Godaime's face, "I'm going on vacation, and I'm taking you with me, Shizune."

"You didn't..."

"I convinced the senate to let me leave Naruto as a temporary Hokage."

The news was heavy on Naruto when he woke up. He found that reading the Hokage files was very unreasonable on his behalf, but never did he expect to become a temporary replacement of the Hokage. In just one day of studying for that matter. It was like a dream come true, but in a very possible sort of way. He didn't know how to react, so he didn't; he just stood there and pinched himself for half an hour, watching Tsunade pack up.


	7. Chapter 7 Baby steps

Chapter 7

An unannounced transfer of leadership left Naruto mentally stunned, he couldn't believe he was chosen for such a task. Tsunade finished packing and didn't want to waste any more of her vacation time in her office or the village of Konoha.

Naruto was chasing Tsunade, who was speed walking out of the village. "Baa-chan! What am I supposed to do?" screamed the boy, trying to keep up with her ridiculously fast pace.

She didn't stop, but instead quickened her getaway, "Just sort the documents, assign any given missions, and handle the reports as you see fit! Oh and, learn how to haggle for mission prices!" were the last words Naruto could hear. The Godaime was too far away for him to keep up with.

He sighed and turned around to walk back to the village. Upon reaching the gate, the guards called out his name, "Hey, Naruto! How's it going?"

The boy didn't know how to reply; they wouldn't believe him if he told them about his current position. "Uhh... not bad actually. But since I'm here, give me today's visitor's list."

The two guards exchanged looks of doubt, "Why?"

Naruto knew they wouldn't believe his being the Hokage, "I'll report it to Tsunade for you."

The guard put the sheets in a folder and handed it to Naruto, "Don't lose it, or she'll kill you."

Naruto smiled and walked away. "No ceremony, no announcement, not even any proof... who the hell gives the Hokage title to a teenage kid like me, without giving him anything to prove it?"

Naruto passed the Hyuga estate, smiling. He was one step closer to being able to face Hiashi, one step closer to becoming a worthy boyfriend for Hinata. He passed the hospital; he was now responsible for the lives of all the people in Konoha, they were entrusted to him, given to him for safekeeping. He passed the academy; he knew he had to keep studying, for he only knew the basics of the Hokage's job.

The boy sighed and rubbed the sweat from his brows, "What to do..." thought Naruto, "It's already getting dark, I still have a lot to learn, and now I have to do Tsunade's job. The real Hokage wasn't able to keep up with the load, what's a kid like me supposed to do?"

Kiyoshi was leaning against a lamppost, watching as Naruto passed by, lost in thought, "I can only guess what just happened."

Naruto stopped and slowly turned his head to look at Kiyoshi with a blank expression, "You won't believe me even if I told you."

"Try me."

"I'm the replacement Hokage."

"Congratulations."

Naruto couldn't stand teen's calm. He grabbed Kiyoshi by the collar, "Do you know what this means?" screamed the whiskered boy.

"It means you're responsible for pretty much everything around here. Keeping order, operating mission-works and reporting everything to the elders."

Naruto couldn't stand it; his list of duties kept increasing every few minutes. He moaned in discomfort, "Why me?"

Kiyoshi released himself from Naruto's grip, "Because you wanted the job."

"But I'm not ready!" complained Naruto.

"You had plenty of time to get prepared, and don't worry, you'll be fine."

Kiyoshi put his arm around the petrified Naruto and escorted him back to the Hokage office.

Hinata couldn't help but feel the need to go find Naruto. She decided to sneak out like she has done for a while now.

As the girl started putting her shoes on, Hiashi burst into the room, "Going somewhere?"

Hinata froze in mid-motion, rendering her in an uncomfortable position of the shoe covering half her foot. "No..."

"Oh really?"

Hinata didn't have anything on her side; she was obviously getting prepared to leave, and it was getting dark outside. The only thing she could do is hope that Hiashi wouldn't ask her about her boyfriend, but luck wasn't on her side today.

"Who is he?"

"Who is who?"

Hiashi sighed, "I'm tired of playing these games, tell me who your boyfriend is, and tell me where you got your new style from."

Hinata's fears had come out into the open, she stubbornly crossed her arms, "I won't tell you."

Her father sighed, "Why not?" asked Hiashi, coming over and sitting down beside her.

The reaction was not what the girl was expecting, this reaction was more humane. "I don't want you or him to get hurt."

"Please, Hinata, stop this foolishness and tell me who he is," implored Hiashi.

Hinata definitely didn't know this side of Hiashi; he was so much different than he was several months back. "Fine, I'll tell you. But you have to promise me something."

"What?"

"Promise me that you won't fight him, and that you won't forbid him from seeing me."

Hiashi shook his head, "You know I can't do that."

"Fine! Just promise me that you won't fight him out of anger!"

Hiashi thought about it, and understood where she came from with this demand. "I promise."

Hinata sighed in relief; she didn't want her father to fight Naruto over her love. Now came the harder part of the conversation, she had to give Naruto's name to Hiashi in hopes that he wouldn't toss it at the wall. "His name... is..."

It was already night, the last of the sunset-colored clouds were fading into cool and lifeless shades of dark-blue. Jiraiya calmly walked through the forest, coming up to the gates of Konoha.

The guard waved at him, "Hey Jiraiya-sama! How was your travel?"

The hermit came up to the guard to sign his name on the visitor's list. "Not bad, I had plenty of rest, and I'm itching for another mission."

"Haha, tough luck there. We haven't had any good missions in a while now," grinned the guard, "Welcome back though."

"Thanks," replied the frog hermit, and walked into Konoha, heading towards the Hokage building. "I wonder how Tsunade is holding up."

Kiyoshi pushed Naruto into the office, "You're the replacement and that's final!"

Naruto whined through tears, "But I don't want to!"

Kiyoshi forced Naruto down on a chair and started slapping him, "Wake up! This is what you wanted!" Naruto stopped whining and looked around the office; his longhaired friend was right, he did want to become Hokage. Kiyoshi carried on, "Accepting the responsibility is a part of the Hokage's job!"

Naruto looked down in shame, "How am I going to do this? I'm just a teen, I still need to study, and that..." he pointed at a huge pile of papers on the desk, "That was too big for Tsunade to handle! How am I going to do this?"

Kiyoshi stepped back, crossed his arms, and grinned, "same way you studied in the library."

Naruto looked up, this time smiling at the cheery idea. "Good call, this won't take too long."

"Great, is there anything else you need from me? I want to go home."

Naruto thought about it; there was one thing, and it would cause many problems for him in the long run. "Yeah, I have one problem, but I don't know how you'll be able to help me out with it."

"What is it?"

"I have no way of proving the fact that I'm the temporary Hokage."

Kiyoshi grinned, "I have two things to say to you."

"What?"

"First of all, treat this as a lesson. Don't tell anyone that you're the Hokage."

"What?" screamed Naruto, jumping up from his seat.

"Just hear me out," said Kiyoshi, holding his palms out in a calming fashion. Naruto sat back down. "This will teach you to hold back your pride."

"I don't get it."

"The original reason you had for wanting to become Hokage, was selfish. You wanted to prove yourself to everyone," explained Kiyoshi. Naruto nodded in agreement. "If you have nothing to prove to anyone, then you won't need to tell anyone that you've become the Hokage."

Naruto saw Kiyoshi's point, "So what am I supposed to do?"

Kiyoshi burst out laughing at the question, "Naruto! You're an excellent ninja in the making! Disguise yourself and use this situation to its full potential!"

Naruto chuckled, but then remembered, "What was the other thing you wanted to tell me?"

"Second of all, turn around."

Naruto turned around, and what he saw made his eyes water, "Wow..."

"Good job, but you still need to earn it," said Kiyoshi, watching Naruto put on the Hokage's white long-coat, sized for his anatomy.

Footsteps could be heard down the hallway, Kiyoshi sharply turned his head in Naruto's direction.

"I'm on it," nodded Naruto, putting his arms together and forming seals.

Jiraiya barged in without knocking, "Hey, Tsunade...chan... Who the hell are you?" asked the frog hermit, pointing his index finger at Kiyoshi.

Kiyoshi looked back at Naruto, who had disguised himself as Tsunade in the nick on time, and sat down in the classic 'serious Tsunade' pose.

"You're dismissed, Kiyoshi," said the disguised Naruto, watched the teen walk out and close the door after himself. "Jiraiya... how many times have I told you to knock?"

The frog hermit grinned, "And here I thought I would get a warm welcome."

"Don't think you aren't, I haven't punched you yet."

Jiraiya shuddered at the thought of flying through numerous walls and falling several stories down. "Alright, I can see you're busy, so I'll leave you alone. I just came by to tell you that I'm back, just call me if you need anything."

"Go write your porno, you still have plenty of time to rest."

The pointless conversation went on for several more minutes. Naruto could barely hold a straight face; this was way too amusing. Eventually Jiraiya left and Naruto broke down laughing. "I could get used to this... thought the boy. 


	8. Chapter 8 Repetition

Chapter 8 

Hiashi couldn't comprehend the news; to him it was no longer a matter of approval or promises, he just had to stop the relationship under any circumstances.

"Naruto..." whispered Hiashi, "Naruto..."

Hinata was now afraid of what would happen next. "Father?"

Hiashi didn't speak; he just slightly turned away and signaled her to not say anything. "Naruto..." he whispered again.

"Did I break him?" thought Hinata.

The man turned back to her, "Was he the one to teach you the new style?"

Hinata shook her head, "No that was someone else."

"Who?"

"His name is Kiyoshi."

Hiashi stood up and stormed out the door, "I'll assume he's the one that made Naruto realize you love him."

Hinata jumped up, "How did you know about that? How did you know about Naruto? And about Kiyoshi?" Hiashi stomped down the hallway without reply. The girl looked down, "That didn't go too well."

Naruto couldn't keep up with the documents; even with the help of his clones he knew that he wouldn't be able to finish the work that night. It was one in the morning and he was completely tired out. "How does Tsunade stay awake?" He then remembered the answer to his own question, "Oh yeah, she doesn't. She always gets drunk and falls asleep... the reason for all this undone work."

Another hour passed until Naruto was on the verge of death from lack of sleep, he decided to call it a night. Putting all the remaining documents into neat piles, canceling his clones and putting his Hokage coat on, he walked out of the office. "Soon... soon I'll have time to study," thought Naruto; totally oblivious of the fact that study was the last thing he wanted at that moment.

He walked down the nearly pitch-black streets of Konoha, too tired to be careful. He didn't care if he got ambushed; if it meant he would get some rest, he would walk off a cliff.

The boy passed the Hyuga estate, feeling strange vibes coming from Hinata's house. The feeling of being watched was somewhere in the back of his mind; he couldn't care less.

Naruto got home, put his new coat on a coat hanger, and without undressing tossed himself at the bed.

Two glowing green eyes wandered the streets. Kiyoshi didn't sleep; he hadn't slept in a while now. The only sleep he had in the previous two months was that of the previous night. He just walked through the streets, thinking over the things that haunted his mind numerous times before, "I'll have to tell them soon, Hikari."

Warmth embraced him from behind, something he hadn't felt since Hikari passed away. He slowly turned around, glowing-blue trails spiraled him. He turned his blood limit off, seeing none other than Ino hugging him. "Ino... it's late, you should go home," he paused for a moment, "Ino?"

The girl didn't reply; she was already asleep. "Be mine," whispered the girl through her dreams.

Kiyoshi wasn't surprised by her behavior, but rather hurt by life's harsh twists. "I can't. My heart belongs to someone else."

A tear rolled down her cheek, "It's not fair..."

Kiyoshi picked her up and carried her home, "It never is. I'm sorry."

A knock came on Inoshi's door; he rushed over to open it, worried by the disappearance of his daughter in the middle of the night. Kiyoshi entered, holding Ino in his arms.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Kiyoshi," replied the teen, laying Ino back in her bed. "I'm sorry she ran off, but she did it subconsciously."

The father calmed down when he heard the boy's name, "So you're the infamous Kiyoshi..."

"You've heard of me?" asked Kiyoshi, turning around and walking towards the door.

Inoshi put his hand on the teen's shoulder, "Wait a second, don't leave. I want to talk to you." Kiyoshi didn't have anything better to do, so he agreed. Inoshi handed him a cup of tea and sat him down on a cushy chair. "Before anything, I must thank you."

Kiyoshi sipped his tea, "For what?"

The man stood up and walked over to Ino's room, leaning against the doorframe. "You changed her for the better, I can't explain how, but she's more mature than she was before she met you."

"Inoshi-dono, I..."

Inoshi cut him off, "Please hear me out. I couldn't help but feel for her, when she said she was in love. She said that phrase numerous times, but this time she was enlightened. This is much more than a crush that she has on you."

Kiyoshi knew this night wouldn't be a very pleasant one, because he was about to do something one would consider stupid. "Inoshi-sama, before you make any assumptions about me based on what Ino may have told you, please understand that it's not wise for her to go out with me."

Inoshi didn't understand, "Why?"

The teen didn't know how to get his words out, he sighed. "I wish I could lend you my eyes."

This confused the man even more, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm already in love with a dead girl."

Inoshi gave off a hard sigh. The man heard rumors of Kiyoshi's summer mission, the girl that died in the boy's hands "Well this sucks."

Kiyoshi got up and headed for the door, "I'll be going now, thanks for the tea."

"Kid... if you ever get over Hikari's death, come back."

Kiyoshi stepped out of the house, "This is why I wish I could lend my eyes to you," whispered the boy, walking into the night and activating his blood limit once again.

Naruto woke up too early for his own liking, looking at the clock he realized that he only had three hours of sleep. "Shit! Got to get back to work!" screamed the blond boy, rushing through his morning routines and out the door.

Kiyoshi was unlucky enough to be passing by Naruto's house, when the man himself ran out and trampled over Kiyoshi on his way to the Hokage office. "God damn..." Thought the blond teen, getting up and dusting himself off. "What's his problem?"

Shino appeared from behind a corner, spotting Kiyoshi he decided to go pay him a visit. "Hey."

Kiyoshi turned around, "Hey Shino, long time no see."

"Yeah, a full day."

Kiyoshi was rather confused; "I don't remember seeing you since I got back."

"That's not very surprising," replied Shino, then recalled images Kiyoshi chugging barrels of sake. "The fact you don't remember anything is not surprising at all."

"Right... so how's life treating you?"

Shino ignored the question and skipped directly to "I heard you rejected Ino."

"Wow, very direct of you."

"Do you have a good reason?"

"I don't need to have a reason for not loving her, I just don't. But it so just happens that I love someone else."

"Who is she?"

The stories of Kiyoshi have traveled far and wide, Kiyoshi was used to the fact. But the fact that Shino, one of the few people that knew him, didn't hear about Kiyoshi's loss was rather startling to him.

"You didn't hear about the summer mission?" asked Kiyoshi. Shino shook his head, which was annoying to Kiyoshi, as he couldn't see past the guy's hood. "Damn..."

Shino's careless expression didn't change from the last statement, "What happened?"

"No offence, but I'm tired of explaining."

A shadow slithered across the ground and stopped several inches before them. They looked up at the person, who cast it, only to be blinded by the sun. "Kiyoshi, have you figured out what the transformation did to your eyes?" Asked the man on the fence.

"Hey Kakashi," said the boy and continued walking down the street.

"What? No warm reunion?"

Kiyoshi shook his head in reply, "I'm still slightly mad at you for doubting her. Even though she..." he paused, and stared at the ground.

"Even though what?"

"Nothing. I'll tell you later."

Kakashi jumped down to join Shino, "He's mad at me because I was suspicious of Hikari," explained Kakashi.

"Who's Hikari?"

"She's the girl he met during the summer mission... she died."

"How about we have a village meeting to tell the story to everyone at once?" screamed the blond boy ahead of them.

"Calm down Kiyoshi, I'll tell the story to Shino whether you like it or not."

The boy just walked away, hearing the past again was sickening to even imagine. He decided to pay Hinata a visit; at least she wouldn't ask him to review the past. "What the hell am I, a newspaper?"

He casually strolled into the Hyuga estate, feeling stares fixed upon him, yet not wasting a single thought on caring. Hinata came out of the bath, dressed in a white robe, drying her hair off with a towel.

"Oi, Hinata!" exclaimed Kiyoshi and knocked on her window. "You busy?"

She came over to the window and opened it, letting the delicious vapor out into the world. "Hey, Kiyoshi-kun..."

"Want to hang out? I got some news."

She leaned over to him and whispered, "Run Kiyoshi... if my dad sees you, he'll rip you a new hole."

Kiyoshi was stunned by the sudden vulgarity, "What? Why?"

"He doesn't seem to be happy about my new style, and he figured out that you got me together with Naruto."

Kiyoshi took a sharp inhale, "He knows about Naruto?" asked the boy. Hinata nodded. "How?"

"I told him."

Kiyoshi felt dizzy, "Why? Why would you do that? Naruto..."

Hinata grabbed him by the collar, "Don't worry about Naruto, worry about yourself!" exclaimed the girl, "I made him promise he wouldn't hurt Naruto, but nothing is there to stop him from getting to you!"

Kiyoshi sighed, "Is there a way I can get out of the Hyuga estate other than the main entrance?"

"Go! There's no other way out! The more you stay here, the more likely he'll intercept you on the way out!"

"Thanks, I'm going."

Hinata watched the teen walk away, "Kiyoshi... I'm sorry to put you into this situation."

He turned back, "Don't worry about it. I only wanted to tell you one thing; go see Naruto the next time you get a chance. He's in Tsunade's office."

"Why is he there?"

Kiyoshi was now almost out of sight, "It's a surprise!" he yelled back at her, before turning around a corner.

"Surprise... that's the word I'm currently looking for," said a man, blocking the exit from the Hyuga estate.

"I'm afraid to ask, but are you by any chance Hiashi?" asked Kiyoshi. The man nodded in response. "Well, fuck..."


	9. Chapter 9 Comprehension

Chapter 9 

Naruto skipped through the hallways of the Hokage building, disguised as Tsunade. The guards have never seen the Godaime skip, but they were extremely crept out by the scene.

"Tsunade-sama, are you alright?"

Naruto stopped and grinned at the concerned ninja, "Like I'm on vacation."

The man raised an eyebrow, "I've never seen you this happy when going to work."

The Hokage replacement stepped up to the door and started unlocking it, "Don't worry, it's just that I'm almost finished the documents..."

Turning the knob and opening the door, rage filled Naruto as he saw the terrors happening in the office. Jiraiya was unconscious and lying on the ground, surrounded by empty sake bottles, and the table had more documents on it than it did when Naruto first started this job. "What the fuck is this? How did you get in here?" screamed the pissed off boy, shaking his former teacher awake.

Jiraiya turned from side to side to try and shake the replacement Hokage off him. "Five more minutes..." moaned the old man.

Something snapped inside Naruto, he lifted the senile ninja and tossed him out the window. "You never let me sleep in during training!!!"

"Training?" asked the guard suspiciously.

"Never mind, I'm getting to work."

"You're getting to work?" asked the guard, even more suspiciously than before, "Tsunade-sama, you're not acting like yourself. Are you alright?"

"Oh leave me alone," replied Naruto and closed the door.

The woman-looking boy stared at the desk, a stockpile of papers were lying on and around it in a very unorganized fashion. "Damn politicians..." thought Naruto. "Osu! Time to get to work!"

Kiyoshi took a step away with each step that Hiashi took towards him, "Heh..."

"Don't 'Heh' me, boy..." replied Hiashi. There was a chill in his voice that sent shivers down Kiyoshi's spine, an advancing stride that made the boy's legs itchy for some running, and a deadly stare that made him look slightly off to the side. "You shouldn't have meddled with the Hyuga heiress... boy."

Kiyoshi remembered the promise that he and Tsunade made; that they would get Naruto and Hinata together no matter what the cost or disturbance. "No wonder that damn woman went on vacation..." mumbled the teen.

He stopped retreating and held his ground. Hiashi wasn't surprised, "Going to accept your fate?"

"I don't really care... about the consequences. Now that they're together, you won't be able to separate them," replied Kiyoshi.

"I'll think of something... but for now, I'll get rid of the cause of the problem... you"

"Eek..."

A voice echoed through his mind, "Turn it on, Kiyoshi-kun."

Kiyoshi nodded and activated the first stage of his blood-limit. "As for me... I was supposed to die a long time ago," replied Kiyoshi, and went into a serious battle-stance.

Hinata watched this from afar; she had always wished none of her friends would ever have to fight her father, but somehow knew it was inevitable. "Father! Don't do it!"

Hiashi didn't listen to his daughter, but took this opportunity to his advantage. "Break up with Naruto, and I won't do anything to this kid."

Shock ran through Kiyoshi's face; he was being used as a hostage, and being negotiated over. He sharply turned his head to Hinata, Hinata, don..."

The deadly palm thrust to his chest cut off Kiyoshi's reply. Kneeling on the ground, coughing blood out, Kiyoshi came to realize that Hiashi wouldn't let him have a say in the conversation. "That's low."

"Don't lecture me!" screamed the man, picking him up and throwing a back-fist punch to Kiyoshi's stomach.

The boy flew back several meters, tumbling on the ground and vomiting blood. "Shit..."

"What's the matter? Can't keep up?"

Kiyoshi realized; although he had the advantage of seeing a small amount of time into the future, Hiashi's movements were just way too fast for his reflexes. And even though he had his weights and condensed muscle tissue protecting him, Hiashi's attacks were hitting his vital organs. He was at a disadvantage, for the first time in his life he found someone who could kill him.

"I'll join you soon Hikari... but not yet," whispered the teen and got up from the puddle of his own blood. "Let's fight," said the teen, activating the second stage of his blood-limit.

Naruto was just barely able to pull of his disguise before a guard stormed into his room.

"Tsunade-sama! We have a report of domestic disturbance in the Hyuga estate!"

"The Hyuga estate... Who's involved?"

"Hiashi-sama and some punk kid!"

"Kiyoshi..." thought Naruto. "I'm going to stop it myself."

"Osu, I'll get everyone to stay back," replied the guard, turned and walked away.

Naruto didn't know what to do; if he went out into public dressed as Tsunade, his secret would be revealed. But leaving Hiashi to kill Kiyoshi would haunt his mind; Kiyoshi already died in the eyes of Naruto before, that's something he didn't want repeated.

"Damn that hooligan..." thought Naruto and froze. "'Hooligan'? What am I, senile?"

Kiyoshi could just barely evade Hiashi's moves, seeing a form of blue light moving in front of him and throwing whip-like punches at him. He didn't have time to counter-attack, for his opponent wouldn't give him a single opportunity.

Hiashi had always been scary, yet he was also always calm. What Hinata saw in front of her right now, the enraged form of her father, terrified her to the bone. She stared at him as if she was observing a nightmare; nothing in Hinata's mind could compare to her father in his current state.

"Please! Stop!" screamed the girl.

Hiashi didn't take a moment to give Kiyoshi a chance for a counter-attack, "You can stop this!"

"Stupid old man..." said Kiyoshi, covered in his own blood, each word making Hiashi despise his existence, "Even if she breaks up with him. They will end up together eventually."

"Shut up!" screamed the man, placing another blow through Kiyoshi's heart.

The boy's eyes widened as he flew back and shriveled up into a ball before landing on a staircase.

"Get up, Kiyoshi..." said a voice.

He looked up, he couldn't speak. The manly form of light was advancing towards him, Hiashi mimicking the form's moves seconds later. There were glowing forms all over the Hyuga estate, each accompanied by their owner, each a different color. But there was one form that didn't have an owner; a violet light was slouching beside him. He smelled the air, "Jasmines..."

"Get up and live."

The boy felt tremendous pain as he got back up; a sharp ache throughout his insides, as if he was about to vomit and explode. He didn't know what to do; there was no way of stopping his fight without his death, and beating Hiashi was out of his league. He closed his eyes, "Jasmines..." he whispered again, getting back up.

"You dragged Hinata out to a mission that nearly got her killed, forced her to learn a technique that wasn't her own, and you brainwashed her into dating the Jinchuuriki... you're dead, kid," said Hiashi and threw a palm thrust at Kiyoshi's head.

Kiyoshi observed everything as if he were in a dream, everything turned slow for a moment, giving him plenty of time to think. He calmly observed as the blue form of light in front of him extended, a whip-like trail slowly coming closer to his face. "Am I dead?"

Hiashi's massive chakra flow exploded out of his palm on strike. Kiyoshi's brain splattered all over the streets, limp body lying motionless on the ground, back of his head open and empty.

Nothing happened, everything was still, and that image kept going through Kiyoshi's head as he observed Hiashi's retraction before executing the attack. "Is this what happens to people before they die? Is this what they call 'life flashing before my eyes'?" thought the boy, "No... This is different. What is this?"

"This is a little something I've slapped together," replied a nasty, yet familiar voice.

Kiyoshi couldn't move, everything but his mind was frozen in time. "You're the one I met back at the cave."

The voice laughed, "correct."

"What do you want?"

"Well... I'd like to know how much you found out about your clan."

"I know that you killed them. You killed my clan for not submitting and being your slaves."

This time the voice laughed even harder, "You're way off, kid."

"Kid?" thought Kiyoshi. "You don't have the right to call me a kid... none of your species do!"

"Ooh, pretty harsh..." giggled the speaker. "Do you want to know what happened?"

Kiyoshi couldn't take this. Being frozen in time, with an incoming killing blow was worse than torture. "Leave me alone!"

"To die?" asked the voice, "As you can see, if you go back into the fourth dimension, you'll be instantly killed by... the man's attack. And you already know what will happen once he strikes."

The image of his own dead body flashed through Kiyoshi's mind. "Shut up! Let me go!"

"Alright, alright... but before I do, let me nudge you into the right direction," chuckled the voice.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about your blood limit of course."

"What do you know, you sorry excuse for a lizard?"

"I can help you classify your the type of power you get from it," explained the raspery voice, "Your blood limit is a spiritual genjutsu."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

The voice chuckled, and started fading with each spoken word, "As I said, all I'll give you is a nudge. If you somehow manage to survive the man's upcoming attack, you should look into it."

"Wait! Why are you telling me this? What are you after?" The voice was no longer around, and the time was now starting up again as if an engine heating up. "Shit, I have to fight now."

Pain started searing its way through his body again, increasing bit-by-bit. He was desperately trying to move out of the way of Hiashi's attack, but his body had no advantage over the attacker's in speed. "Move... move!"

Time started up again at full speed, he was able to get out of the way of the attack, but with the cost of half his ear being ripped off.

"You lucky little vermin..." hissed Hiashi.

Hinata desperately screamed, "Father! Stop it!"

Kiyoshi kneeled down a few meters away, holding his torso as if trying to keep his organs from falling out. "I have no need to fight you."

Naruto came around the corner, disguised as Tsunade. Kiyoshi was glad and terrified by having spotted his friend; Naruto would be able to stop the fight due to his current position, but in doing so he would jeopardize his disguise. "Shit..."

"Hiashi! What's the meaning of this?" screamed Naruto.

The man turned around, facing the replacement Hokage. Stares of the entire Hyuga estate were bouncing between the two standing figures. "This kid meddled with my daughter's business."

"So you decided to kill him?"

Hiashi froze, realizing the flaw of what he was doing. He felt lucky that Kiyoshi survived all his attacks, and managed the impossible dodge of his last strike. "He... made Hinata love that Jinchuuriki kid..." whispered Hiashi in shame.

Naruto repeated his previous statement, "So you decided to kill him?"

Hiashi no longer knew what to think; the actions he took, for a man of his statue, were humiliating. "Oh my god..."

"Tell me this. What would have happened if you had killed him?" asked Naruto.

Kiyoshi regained his breath and stood up, holding his ear. "You're walking a thin line Naruto... don't you fall," thought the teen.

Hiashi didn't know what to reply; he was speechless, lost halfway in between in his thoughts and a nightmare of a reality.

"I'll tell you what," Naruto continued, "You would have been thrown into prison, and shame would befall the whole Hyuga family, including your daughter. But she would still love Naruto, and you wouldn't be around to see her happiness."

Hiashi snapped, "Why are you defending her defiant actions?" screamed the man, "Why?"

Naruto shook his head, "Oh Hiashi... you're angry." said the disguised Naruto, "You, of all people, should know better than to fall prey to emotion."

He looked up at her, "What should I do? Having my daughter date the Jinchuuriki brings shame to the Hyuga name."

Naruto felt like a cheat for what he was about to say, "Give him a chance."

Hiashi sharply turned away and stormed off in a cloud of anger and uncertainty. Naruto turned to Kiyoshi, "Kiyoshi-kun, come with me!"


	10. Chapter 10 Rash Decisions

Chapter 10

Hinata sat on her bed, with wide eyes; reminiscing what had just happened. Kiyoshi had nearly died because she was careless with her choice of words, because of her speechless behavior. Her father entered her room, sleeves covered in the boy's blood.

"Why are you so defiant?"

She sat in silence; she didn't want to speak with him, in fear of making another mistake that would result in another fit from Hiashi. "Go away..."

"I'm sorry about what I did."

"Get out!" screamed the girl and threw a pillow at him.

He frowned and walked out of the room, leaving his daughter to cry alone.

Naruto escorted Kiyoshi through the streets of Konoha, back to the Hokage office.

Entering the room, the replacement Hokage sat down behind the desk. "What's the meaning of this?" asked Naruto in disguise.

"You're definitely into character," smiled Kiyoshi, "You can take the disguise off, I know you're Naruto... I'm the one who made you use the disguise in the first place."

Naruto dispelled his jutsu; the image of a woman faded, leaving a sleepy blond boy in a Hokage coat. "Sorry, I forgot," yawned Naruto, "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"A tired worker is a no-good worker," suggested Kiyoshi, sitting on a chair across the desk from Naruto. "You should take a nap."

"Can't... got work to do," replied Naruto, summoning five clones and starting to go through the pile of documents. "Mind telling me why I had to save you? I wasted a lot of valuable time there."

Kiyoshi came over to the first-aid kit on the wall, "Man... That Hiashi is one tough nut..." smirked Kiyoshi, wrapping a bandage around his shred-up ear. "And excuse me for making you do work, Hokage-sama."

"That's not what I meant," smiled Naruto, not looking up from his task, "Why did the fight start?"

"You just brought up a serious conversation," Kiyoshi's smile faded, "He knows about you and Hinata."

The pack of Narutos around the desk looked up at him in shock, "What? How?"

"Hinata told him."

Naruto smiled, "So she's ready? Even though she still doesn't know about my new rank?"

"She'll follow you to the ends of the earth no matter what your rank is... she loves you."

Naruto looked back down, "That still didn't answer my question though. Why did Hiashi attack you?" he glanced back at Kiyoshi, "It was him that attacked you, right? Not the other way around?"

Kiyoshi nodded, "He attacked me because I'm responsible for the relationship you have with Hinata."

"That's not true..."

"Perhaps not; you would've eventually matured in a couple of years and realized her love by yourself. But I sped it up, therefore I'm the link between the past and the present of your relationship."

Naruto thought about this, "So basically, you pissed him off?"

"I guess... it's just that he doesn't see the love Hinata has for you. He thinks I brainwashed her or something."

"This is a pain..." sighed Naruto. "Too much is happening, and I don't even have time for studying... let alone training."

Kiyoshi sat back down, and leaned over, "Naruto... this is training on it's own. This is the real Hokage work. This is the real Hokage life."

"Someone's coming," said Naruto, canceling his clones and putting the Tsunade disguise back on.

Sakura rushed in, "Kiyoshi! Are you alright?" exclaimed the pink-haired girl.

The boy grinned, "I'm fine, but I was just on my way to the hospital for a check-up. I think Hiashi moved something out of place inside me," replied Kiyoshi, dragging Sakura to the door.

Sakura looked back at Naruto, "Tsunade-sama..."

A vein popped up on the woman's forehead, "What are you doing here, baka?"

Kiyoshi let go of the girl and rubbed his forehead in disappointment, "You didn't have to say anything... but one line and you already jeopardized your disguise..."

Sakura charged at the replacement Hokage, "You're not Tsunade!" screamed the girl, throwing a groundbreaking punch at the fraud.

Kiyoshi jumped in the way of the attack and got knocked out the window. "Shit!" screamed the teen, flipping through the air away from the building. "Watch your punches!" were the last words before his voice faded into the distant streets of the village.

"Why did he get in the way?" thought the girl. She looked at the woman by the desk, "Who are you and what have you done to Tsunade?"

Naruto closed his eyes and rested his head on his hands, fingers intertwined. "You stupid girl... do you really thing someone could lay a hand on Tsunade?" asked Naruto, revealing his true form.

"Naruto?" exclaimed the girl. "What's going on here?" asked Sakura, observing his White long-coat.

"I'm the replacement Hokage," replied the ticked off teen, "Tsunade's on vacation."

She smiled, "So you finally got your dream? Congratulations!" yelled the girl, with an attempted hug.

Naruto flung across the room, as if a magnet of the same charge. "Get the hell away from me! Get out of the office, I have work to do! And go get Kiyoshi to a Hospital!" roared the boy.

Sakura rushed out of the office in terror. "Osu Hokage sama!"

Naruto climbed back down from the upper-right corner of the room and summoned several clones to get back to work.

Sakura searched the streets for Kiyoshi, "He must be in critical condition from that hit..."

She came upon a smoking crater in the middle of the street, surrounded by citizens in shock. Kiyoshi was sleeping in the center of it, knocked out by the impact.

"He's sleeping?" asked a villager.

"Sleeping? Are you sure he's not dead?" asked another, then came up to feel for Kiyoshi's breath, "He's alive!"

Everyone stared at him, "Monster..." said the first villager, pulling a pitch-fork out, "Angry mob anyone?"

Sakura stepped in before anyone else could accept the villager's invitation, "Shut up. He's human," replied the girl, putting much effort into picking him up and walking to the hospital.

An ear-splitting scream filled the hospital's atmosphere and a mile in each direction from it; Kiyoshi woke up. He looked around; nobody was there, yet he knew that several doctors, nurses, and Ghostbusters would charge in any second now. "I got to stop screaming..."

Nobody walked in, with the exception of Ino. Kiyoshi could only get a small glance at the unconscious guards in the hallway, before the door closed behind the blonde intruder.

"Hello Kiyoshi..." said Ino, pulling a syringe out of her pocket and advancing towards him.

He lay in his bed, wide-eyed. "Ino... what's in that syringe?"

"Just a little something to calm you down."

He struggled to get out of the bed, but found himself to be limp. "What's going on?"

A crazed grin filled Ino's face, "I'm going to kidnap you, Kiyoshi..."

Kiyoshi dropped his head back, "Shit..."

"Don't worry, you'll like living with me. I'll feed you, look after you..." another creepy smile ran across her face.

Kiyoshi cocked an eyebrow, "You're insane..."

Hinata managed to sneak out of the Hyuga estate without being spotted, and was on her way to Tsunade's office to see Naruto, as Kiyoshi had suggested. She was still sniffing through the tears brought on by the events that took place. She remembered Naruto's warm embrace and smiled, "I need you now more than ever."

Naruto and his pack of clones managed to get through almost half of the work, before he got very hungry. He dispelled his clones and locked the door on his way out. "Ramen..."

Walking down the hallways, Naruto yawned and smacked his lips. Taking slow and unrushed steps, he eventually got to the exit. He spotted a sight for sore eyes; Hinata. "Oi! Hinata-chan!"

The girl looked up from the path she walked on, "Ano... Naruto-kun!" They ran up to eachother and hugged. "Naruto, I'm so sorry, I told my father about you... but don't worry, he promised not to hurt you."

He looked at her and smiled, "Want to go out for some ramen?"

She couldn't understand what the source of his calmness was, "But what about..."

Naruto cut her off, "We can discuss it over ramen."

Hinata had never seen him like this; so carefree, black eyes from the lack of sleep, grinning weakly. "Osu," said the girl, confused and not sure what else she could say to the extremely tired boy in front of her, "Let's get some ramen."

He put his hand over her shoulder and wrapped his white coat around her, which she had not noticed yet, and he had totally forgotten about. "How are you feeling? I haven't talked to you in a while."

She walked down the street with her head resting on his shoulder, "I'm worried."

"What about?"

"My father beat up Kiyoshi today, and nearly killed him too," explained the girl.

Naruto was too tired to pick his words out correctly, "I know, I was there," then quickly shut up, realizing what he just said.

"You were there?"

Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "What I meant, was that a friend of mine told me all about it... Kiyoshi... being the friend."

She stopped and looked up at him, "You're hiding something from me."

The phrase made Naruto realize something he hadn't realized before; they have come a long way. At first, neither of them could even say a word to eachother, but now Hinata could read him like a book.

"Well..."

"You're acting very strange lately. You haven't seen me for a whole day, you're tired out so much that it's a surprise you can stand at all, and... Where▓d you get this coat?"

Naruto grinned again, this time not as weakly as before. "This is the reason for my behavior; I've been made a replacement Hokage."

Hinata slapped him, and stepped away in anger. "And you didn't tell me? Of all people, you forgot to tell me?" Naruto wanted to explain himself, but she didn't want to listen. Hinata slapped him again and ran off, eyes filled with tears, "You don't care about anyone but yourself!"

"Hinata! Wait!" yelled the blond boy and fell to the ground. He was feeling weak, tired, the only thing he could do is watch her run off into the distance and call out for her to come back.

Hinata wished with all heart that he would come after her, ask for forgiveness, tell her that nobody else knew. "You jerk..." thought Hinata, running down the street, towards Kiyoshi's residence for him comfort her. 


	11. Chapter 11 Deja Vu

Chapter 11 

Kiyoshi woke up in a very dim room, a light bulb swaying from side to side above him, making the shadows move in a slow-dance. Everything was blurry, it was hard to see, but he could just barely make out a person standing several feet in front of him. He tried to rub his eyes, but his hands were tied back. He yawned.

"Feeling comfy?" asked a familiar girl's voice, "I want you to be as comfortable as you can be."

"Ino? Let me go, this isn't funny."

She walked up to him and sat on his lap, then nibbled on his ear. "It's not supposed to be. This is romantic."

Kiyoshi's head bobbed back, "Holy fucking deja-vu..."

Ino became worried, "Is something wrong?"

"Ino, look... I'm not interested! Can you get that through your head?" exclaimed Kiyoshi.

"Sure you are... you just don't know it."

"You're fucked in the mind, you know that? I've had a girl who drugged and tied me up before, and one is too many for me to handle!" exclaimed the boy, and then mumbled, "No offence Hikari."

Ino smiled, "Either way, you are mine until the end of either of us," the smile widened, "As they say... until death do us part."

Kiyoshi looked at her with ice in his eyes, he was pissed off, "Oh, so what, we're married now? Let me go you psychopath!"

"Not a chance. If not this, then I can't have you at all."

"There's a good reason for that!" exclaimed the boy and gave up. "This girl won't understand if a brick with the words 'I don't love you' engraved on it hit her face. I've got to get out of here before she does something stupid."

Ino pulled a tube down from the ceiling, leaving the end dangling in front of Kiyoshi's face, "This is your food..." She pulled another one down, "and this is your drink.

The boy was crept out by how thoroughly she planned all of this out. "Your father will kill you when he finds me tied up like this."

"Aww, you're sweet, being concerned for my safety and all. But don't worry, because he won't find you."

Kiyoshi sharply turned his head to see the black, windowless walls. "Where on earth are we?"

"That's a secret..." giggled Ino in a taunting manner, walking out the door and blowing kisses to Kiyoshi before closing him into the darkness.

Kiyoshi's sense of sight was completely useless in the pitch-black room; Ino turned the lights off. "Just you wait until the sedatives wear off, then I'll..." He felt the ropes, "Chakra ropes... god damn deja-vu!"

Naruto had the worst bowl of ramen he had ever eaten; not able to enjoy a single bite due to his nerve-wrecking conscience. Never before had he cast off an unfinished bowl of ramen, never in his life. He handed it to Teuchi.

"Naruto... what's the meaning of this?"

Naruto looked down as he stood up, "I'm sorry old man, but I won't finish that until I can enjoy it properly."

Teuchi rolled up his sleeves, "What are you saying?"

"I have to go after Hinata, she's hurt."

The man clamed down and leaned over, "Hinata? What happened?"

"There is something I need to tell her, I should've done it sooner, but..." Naruto put the money on the counter and started walking away, "Actually there is no excuse. I should've told her."

Jiraiya woke up and stretched his arms out, yawning louder than thought physically possible. "Ahh..." he smacked his lips and opened his eyes, "Wait a second..." he looked around, "Why am I on the street?"

A man walked by him and dropped a couple of coins beside him. "Homeless people in Konoha... how shameful."

Jiraiya looked at the money in confusion, "Homeless people in Konoha..." he looked down at his chest, finding a bottle from sake. "I'm not homeless!"

The old man looked up at the shattered window of Tsunade's office, from which, as he deducted, he was thrown out of. "Curse that Tsunade..." mumbled the old coot, getting up from his dirt-nap on the street. "You could have woken me up..."

Hinata calmed down enough to hold a normal conversation. Yet she still wanted to clarify a few things with Kiyoshi about Naruto. "He must have known..."

She walked up to Kiyoshi's door and knocked. No response, not even a shuffling noise, a tumbleweed rolled by. Hinata ran up to the tumbleweed and kicked it at Kiyoshi's window; it bounced off. Still no reply or movement from inside the house. The girl decided to let herself in and wait for Kiyoshi to arrive. She walked in and made some tea.

"I wonder where he's gone to... it's not like he ever has anything better to do but sit at home and read a book."

Naruto wandered the streets, searching for his girlfriend to give her an explanation as to why he hadn't told her about his position. He didn't want to make a ruckus, so he didn't call out for her; he just moved his glances from one passing street to the next. "I bet you went to Kiyoshi. He's always there for us when we need him."

Naruto passed a crater where he assumed Kiyoshi had landed after protecting him from one of Sakura's punches. There was nothing that concerned the citizens anymore; Kiyoshi was long gone, and the crater was nothing more than a nuisance for people to walk around.

Jiraiya spotted Naruto walking in his direction, quietly searching the street for something. "Oi, Naruto!"

Naruto ignored the old man and walked past him. "Hinata, you better be at Kiyoshi's, I'm starting to worry."

"Naruto, what's with all this attitude? I was just saying hi."

The boy didn't reply, he just walked the path to Kiyoshi's house in total silence. "I should have told you, there shouldn't be any secrets between us."

"Oi Naruto!"

"You're annoying!" screamed Naruto and punched Jiraiya in the face.

The old man flew across the street and broke a lamppost on impact. Getting up and dusting himself off, Jiraiya stared at Naruto in total confusion. "What's with him? He's always restless when he's not pissed off, but now he's enraged enough to attack me, and his face doesn't even show it a bit," thought Jiraiya. "What's up?" asked the old man, "I haven't seen you in ages."

Naruto calmed down and sighed, "I'm sorry. I'm just a bit on edge."

"Why don't you turn that frown upside down?" Jiraiya received a thrown garbage can right after the comment, and flew back into the broken lamppost again. "Naruto! Cut it out!"

The boy had already resumed his search before Jiraiya could finish his request. "Stay away from me, Ero-Sennin."

Jiraiya caught up to him on a frog and stood in his way, "Come on, tell me what's bothering you."

"You!" exclaimed Naruto and threw Jiraiya over himself in the opposite direction.

This time Jiraiya didn't get up, but just looked at his former student. "Tell me. You know that you can always trust me... Is it about a girl?"

Naruto turned his head and nodded. "Yes... yes it is."

Jiraiya reddened with happiness and tears, "My boy's finally in love!"

Naruto slammed his palm into Jiraiya's face to keep the old man from hugging him. "Hinata and I have been together for a while now, and we've been through a lot."

"Hinata?" Jiraiya whistled, "Good catch."

Naruto pushed him away and resumed his walk to Kiyoshi's house, "She's not a fish."

"So what's so bad if you've got the girl with the biggest..."

The blond kid tackled Jiraiya, "Watch your mouth old man. You're out of your league to say stuff like that about her!"

Jiraiya grinned, "Just testing you, kid. Don't worry, I'm not that kind of pervert."

Sakura ran past them, rushed back to talk to Naruto. "Have you seen Kiyoshi?" exclaimed the girl, panting from running all over the village. "I can't find him anywhere!"

Jiraiya looked back and forth between the worried Sakura and ticked off Naruto, "Who's Kiyoshi?"

Naruto rubbed his eyebrows, "Just my luck... I was having a grand day as it was, and now Konoha's two most annoying people have come to make it even better," He looked up at Sakura with hate, "What are you trying to say, that you didn't look after Kiyoshi like I told you to? You stupid hag!" screamed Naruto and started chasing the girl around the street.

Jiraiya watched the chase in disbelief. "Did Naruto call Sakura a stupid hag just now? What's going on? Did hell freeze over?""

"I went go get him bandages and some medicine!" screamed the pink-haired girl, still on the run from the rampaging Naruto. "When I came back, the guards were beaten up and Kiyoshi was gone! I'm sorry Hokage-kun!"

Jiraiya threw a rock at Naruto to get his attention. "Why did she call you 'Hokage-kun'?

Naruto looked at the old man and started chasing Sakura with more hate than before. "Keep your mouth shut!"

"I'm sorry!" screamed Sakura on the verge of tears. "I didn't know it was a secret!"

"Don't say it was a secret!"

"Sorry!"

Jiraiya stopped Naruto, "What does she mean, Hokage?"

Naruto stopped and stared at the old man, "Seriously..." he brushed his hair back, "Of all the people..."

Kiyoshi attempted to fling himself to the side, possibly break the chair. No success, the chair was bolted down pretty deep. "Oh god... How long has she been planning this?"

A light flickered under the door, giving him hope that somebody might have come to untie him. Ino opened the door, "Hiya cutie!"

"I'm covered in scars! How does that make me cute?" exclaimed the boy, "What the hell did you come back here for?"

"To see if you still have food."

"Whoa, backtrack! Since when am I your pet?"

"Since I caught you, silly."

Kiyoshi bobbed his head back, "I hate hospitals..."

Naruto didn't wait to explain anything to Jiraiya, or be annoyed by Sakura any further. He needed to calm down before confronting Hinata, and in order to do that, he would need to get away from the two nuisances. "Follow me, and you won't wake up tomorrow," hissed Naruto, once again resuming his walk to Kiyoshi's house.

"He's a bit on edge," whispered Jiraiya.

"A lot's happened to everyone while you were away," replied Sakura.

Naruto walked up to Kiyoshi's house, but didn't want to go in yet, not until he's cooled his head. "I need an anger management class or something. This job is taking too much out of me," Naruto sat down and leaned against a side of the house.

Hinata stepped out, came over to him and gave him a hug. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Naruto didn't move, he felt like crying, but forbade himself as usual. "No excuse would give me the right to keep that kind of secret away from you," sniffed the boy, "I'm sorry, Hinata, I should have told you."

"Dogs."

"Huh?" Naruto was utterly confused by the sudden and unrelated word that just escaped Hinata's lips.

She pointed at the street, "Dogs... with rabies."


	12. Chapter 12 Pain

Chapter 12

"So what now?" asked Kiyoshi, nothing else came to mind other than asking the silly question that usually made things worse. "I can't run, I can't fight, and I can just barely see due to the drug overdose that you gave me. Where does this end?"

Ino sat down on a chair across from him, "I already told you. Until death do us part."

"I didn't think you were serious. But I guess I shouldn't be too surprised about anything anymore."

"Why wouldn't I be serious?"

Kiyoshi gave her the 'you have to be kidding me' look, "Never mind."

"I'll tell you what I'm going to do next, I want to see what it's like inside that sexy body of yours."

"My body is scarred, ripped up, sewn back together, ripped up again, burnt, dead, revived, and same process repeated five times over. How is that for sexy?" smirked Kiyoshi, "You might as well let me go."

"Not a chance in hell."

Kiyoshi flinched, "Ino... stay the hell out of my body. Stay out for your own sake."

Ino gave off a light giggle and formed her favorite seal, "You're in no position to make the threats. And once I come out, I'll hypnotize and brainwash you."

"Shit..." thought the blond boy, as Ino entered his split mind.

An ear-splitting screech of pain could be heard from anywhere in Konoha, Naruto looked in the direction of its source, "South-west," stated the blond boy and turned back to the pack of dogs.

Hinata backed away against the wall, "Naruto... get us out of here."

Naruto held onto Hinata and jumped up on Kiyoshi's roof, "Kage Bushin no-jutsu!"

Two figures darted off the roof and ran north, down to the Hokage building. The dogs followed the two clones, and would later be chased off by ninja guarding the building.

Naruto couldn't believe what he had heard, "Hinata, did you hear that screech too?"

The girl nodded, "Kiyoshi..."

"Can't be, Kiyoshi wouldn't scream if he were torn limb by limb."

"It was his voice," repeated Hinata.

Naruto couldn't grasp this, yet he had to agree with the girl; it was indeed Kiyoshi's voice that screamed in agonizing pain. "Let's go."

Ino was huddled in a corner behind Kiyoshi, cowering from his sight. Her breath was out of place; random sharp inhales and exhales in no particular order or proportion. In her eyes, Kiyoshi was now the human form of death. "What are you?"

"I'm human."

"No!" screamed the girl, "You can't be..."

Kiyoshi closed his eyes, "I always thought of myself as a weapon. Never have I thought that I could live a normal human life, even though that was my deepest desire."

"How can you talk?"

"Why not?"

"How can you act so calmly with all that pain? Any normal human would go into deep shock and never come out. Why do your scars hurt so much?"

Kiyoshi sighed, "It's not something that could be explained. My dense muscle structure protects my insides, but that has a cost. Since my muscle tissue is tougher than steel, it's the same as having an armor plate under my skin. Every punch and attack that I receive is fifty times more painful than anything you could ever experience."

The girl couldn't stop shuddering from the vile lesson on Kiyoshi's anatomy. But it kept on coming, word after word; Kiyoshi kept crushing her spirit and desire.

"Every gash, every punch, every shot that I've ever received, still resides with me. My nerves will never heal. Stay the hell out of my body if you know what's good for you, stay out of my mind if you don't want to learn an even harder lesson than you just did."

Ino stared at him in terror, "How can you still speak?"

"I've earned the right to live in this body, through the pain that it's experienced. You've had nothing, no worries; your life has been one big banquet. Your mind can't handle invading me."

"Stop talking!" screamed Ino, "It hurts to look at you!"

Kiyoshi twisted his head back, "You're selfish. You never had to work for a day in your life, and you always try to take the easy way. Even with something that you consider valuable, me."

Ino no longer wished to do anything. Nothing she did up to this moment made her life memorable. She just wanted to go back home, sleep, and wake up realizing that everything Kiyoshi just said was just a dream.

Then the girl realized; even if he were a dream, the events that just took place a nightmare, it wouldn't stop Kiyoshi from being absolutely correct. Her life had been just one big carnival of fun and cotton candy. "You're wrong."

Kiyoshi flipped his hair out of the way, "Am I?" He threw her a glance, "Me, being tied up, is the perfect evidence of your laziness."

A tear formed in her eye, "You have no idea, how much I trained... just to get you to look at me."

"And you ruined it all by kidnapping me," replied Kiyoshi "Have you seen Hinata's dedication? Don't say that you've trained your heart out, because that would be an insult to her efforts."

"What am I supposed to do? I don't have her will, the dedication that she has."

Kiyoshi looked down, eyes hidden by the shadow of his hair, "Then you don't love me. Then this was all an effort out of selfish lust."

Ino turned away, she had thought this was the real thing, the feeling that they call 'love', but it was just another stage? She had a hard time grasping the concept, she didn't know whether to believe the boy or keep tormenting herself with what-if's. 'Confusion', was too insufficient of a word to match her feelings.

"Let me go, I will introduce you to the one person that has ever loved me."

Ino didn't want to deal with kidnapping Kiyoshi anymore, she had enough of him to last her a lifetime. "Osu..."

Naruto had a difficult time keeping his jutsu going; keeping an image of his orange suit with the constantly waving white trench coat. Running southwest, he turned to his girlfriend "Hinata, can you see him?"

Hinata searched for Kiyoshi through her Byakugan, "I can't find him..." they were coming to the outskirts of the village, "He's not here..."

"He's got to be! I heard his voice from around this area!"

"I don't know where, but he's not in the village. Must have been from the outside," Suggested Hinata

Naruto recalled reading about a possibility in one of his diplomacy books; a war that raged long before the appearance of the tailed demons. Every country pushing its boarders in all directions, only so that later they'd be unable to occupy and control the land which they had conquered.

Konoha lay in the center of war, thus had to defend itself from all sides, and push west at the same time. In order to create an absolute defense, they had to separate the enemy from their support. Konoha created hidden bunkers and underground tunnel-works to be able to ambush the incoming army from all sides with the help from the Hyuga family's ability of Byakugan, thus minimizing the amount of effort being placed into Konoha's defense, and focus it on getting territory in the west.

Earth jutsu users tore this web of underground tunnels into the ground, and the tunnels were spread dozens of miles around, with supply rooms located every few hundred meters. The closest one to Konoha, thus most defended entrance was located just a hundred meters away from the southwest wall.

That supply cache would have to be Naruto's next and only guess as to where Kiyoshi might be located. "We don't have time to be legit. If that scream was in fact Kiyoshi's, then we can't waste time going out through the gate. We're going over the wall."

"But what about the sentry towers?"

"Let them follow us. We might need their assistance if things are to get ugly."

Hinata looked over at Naruto's expression of confidence, "Thorough..." thought the girl.

Naruto made several clones to toss himself and Hinata up over the wall, and another dozen to make sure that the sentry would notice them. He grabbed onto Hinata and jumped on the boosting hands of his clones, getting flipped up over the high wall.

"Say... is that Naruto?" asked one of the guards, getting up and setting his coffee on a table. "Where's he going?"

"Oi Naruto!" yelled the other guard, "Did you check out?"

Naruto turned his head slightly, just to look up at the guards with one eye, whilst running away from them. "No!"

"Shit..." mumbled the guard, "You stay here, I'll got retrieve him."

"Sure," replied the second guard, sitting back down and taking his coffee.

Naruto summoned clones to toss himself and Hinata forward, making them dash through the forest at a raging speed. "Hang on, Kiyoshi."

Hinata jumped off one clone, got boosted by another, evaded an incoming tree branch, flipped off from a tree trunk. "Naruto," said the girl, "You still didn't tell me where we are going."

"An old war bunker," replied the boy, "It's our only chance."

"Are you sure Kiyoshi's there?"

"As much as I'm sure that his scream came from this direction."

Hinata became worried, "What if you're wrong?"

Naruto's eyebrows lowered as he passed another set of trees with a dash, "Then I'll have to announce my position as replacement Hokage, and call a search party."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" asked Hinata, "The reason you wanted to become Hokage, was to get acknowledgement."

"That was a selfish cause," replied Naruto.

Hinata's eyes widened, brows arched, "But that's the reason you wanted to become Hokage."

"That's not the true reason I wanted to become Hokage. At the time, I didn't know the true reason at all. It was a mysterious desire," explained Naruto, "The true reason behind my desire... is my love for this village."

"Love for this village? I though it was love from the village that you were seeking."

Naruto smiled, "I've got your love, and that's all I ever wanted... even though I didn't know it."

"Aw, you're sweet..."

Hinata attempted a quick mid-air kiss, but got interrupted by Naruto, "I'm sorry, I'll take a rain cheque. We're here."

"Osu."

Naruto shuffled the fallen orange leaves in search for something. Finally he found what he was looking for, pulling on a chain and opening a trap door. The couple rushed down the stairs, heading into the darkness. "Flame no-jutsu!" exclaimed Naruto, making a small ball of blue fire appear in his hand. "Look for a door."

They rushed down the dark tunnel, covered in webs and decaying frames of wooden supports. It was hard to see; the more they ran, the more dust followed them, and the harder it was to breathe. "Where's that damn door?" asked the blond boy.

"I think I found it!" exclaimed Hinata, words echoing through the dark tunnels. If there were an enemy, the couple's presence would be noted. Naruto felt stupid for rushing in like he would several months earlier, but he couldn't take his sweet time, not if Something happened to Kiyoshi, something that would make the warrior scream in pain.

"Where?" asked Naruto, turning to Hinata, who had taken a side-passage, and was standing in front of a heavy metallic door. "Yeah, that's it alright..."

Hinata turned to Naruto to see his approval to open the door. Naruto nodded to indicate that he has her covered. Hinata took a last breath of courage and blew the door open with her gentle fist.

She ran in on a diagonal, Naruto entered as a mirror reflection of her movement, creating a side-to-side entrance.

They both stood still, in shock. This wasn't something they had expected to see, they wouldn't expect it now, and they wouldn't expect it ever. They thought Kiyoshi was losing it, but they were proven wrong.

"Hikari?" 


	13. Chapter 13 Spiritualized past

Chapter 13

There was a silence, nobody said a word. Kiyoshi sat, tied up, with his eyes closed, in total relaxation. Ino cowered in a corner, terrified. Naruto and Hinata were astonished by what they saw before them.

It was indeed Hikari, yet at the same time it wasn't; two black ribbons moved around her invisible figure, as if caught in a draft. The astonishment of this left everyone speechless.

A wind whispered through the hallways and echoed through the room, "Hi..."

Ino screamed and ran out. She was going straight to sleep once she got home.

Hinata stepped up to the two ribbons, "Hikari?"

Another wind moaned through the stone paved underground, "Hai..."

Kiyoshi called Naruto over; Ino had freed his hands so that he could execute a technique, but he was still tied up. "Would you mind undoing the ropes?"

Naruto rushed around Kiyoshi, squatting to untie the chakra ropes. "What's going on here? We heard you scream... is that Hikari? What's happening around here?"

Kiyoshi sighed as his ropes became loose. He got up and started rubbing his wrists, letting blood flow through his veins, "I guess it's about time I explained a few things."

Hinata came up to the ribbons in motion, staring directly into the emptiness that would be Hikari's face if her body wasn't nine feet underground and contained her soul. A ribbon passed through Hinata's focus, indenting the passed away girl's face. Hinata stepped back, startled, "It really is you."

Kiyoshi couldn't take it, "It's hard for her to speak to you, and I▓ll do it for her."

"Can she hear me?"

Kiyoshi nodded, "She can see and hear everything in this world. But at the same time she's in the next."

"How can this be happening?" asked Naruto, not able to rephrase the question in any other manner.

Kiyoshi braced himself for a rather long conversation. "She's a spirit."

Naruto stared at Hikari's outline in disbelief, "But... how?"

The longhaired boy would have to start explaining from the very beginning. "When she died, I started searching for history of my clan, and the ability of my second transformation."

Naruto and Hinata pulled up dusty chairs and sat down in front of Kiyoshi.

Kiyoshi started stretching his arms and legs, muscles creaking from lack of use for a long time. "I only found bits and pieces of information. My clan was slaughtered due to their refusal to submit to a higher order. The blood limit ability that I have is known to the public as 'Foresight'."

Hinata's eyes widened, "Foresight? I thought that was just a myth."

"Oi, Hinata, do you know something about this?" asked Naruto

The girl nodded, "It's a long-lost ability. Nobody who is currently alive knows any details. The only things that're known right now are legends and theories of how the ability worked."

Naruto looked up at Kiyoshi, "But didn't your clan get killed when you were a child? How can it be a mythical ability if it existed a mere 16 years ago?"

Kiyoshi sat down and shot Naruto a glance, "So you knew about my clan, yet didn't tell me anything?"

Naruto couldn't believe that he got so careless. "I'm sorry, I didn't get the right chance to tell you."

"Never mind," replied Kiyoshi, surprising the two teens in front of him. "I don't really care. It's not something to fight a friend over."

"It's your past. It's important," said Hinata, "How can you not be angry?"

Kiyoshi smiled, "And is it wise to destroy the future with the past?"

The girl was speechless, "What are his priorities?" thought Hinata.

"Back to my findings," continued Kiyoshi, "I found out how to use my second transformation, but couldn't find out how it works... up until yesterday."

"What happened yesterday?" asked Naruto.

Kiyoshi waved his hand to signal Naruto to calm down, "Let's backtrack for a moment... to the day I found Hikari all over again."

"How did you two get reunited?" asked Hinata, "Why isn't she in heaven?"

Kiyoshi turned to the two freeform ribbons, after a short pause he smiled, "She says, what's more heavenly than being with your loved one?"

Hinata turned to Hikari, "That's romantic, but still... why didn't you go to heaven?"

"She says, what is heaven? There is no single heaven that everyone goes to; each person has their desire, their own idea. Being with me was her wish," replied Kiyoshi. "Anyways, the ability was passed on, but concealed by my clan."

Hinata was curious; a legendary ability that is said to be the big sister of the Byakugan. "How does it work."

Kiyoshi sighed in relief; the conversation was now starting to get interesting. "I wasn't sure up until I fought your father, but some sort of creature stopped time and gave me the key clue right before Hiashi blew my ear off."

"A creature?" asked Naruto.

"I'll tell you all I know about it a bit later," replied Kiyoshi, "I have to explain the ability before I do anything else."

"What about it?"

Kiyoshi couldn't believe that he was so certain about what he was about to tell them, "It's a spiritual power."

"A what now?" asked Naruto, "You mean like spirit you get before combat?"

"You can call it that," shrugged Kiyoshi, "But spirit is much more deep than a stimulation of the mind."

"What do you mean?"

Kiyoshi sharply bobbed his head to the right and a small crack could be heard, "Spirit is as real as blood or chakra."

The two teens in front of Kiyoshi jumped up from their chairs in shock, "What?"

"It flows not within us, but rather guides us."

"What do you mean?"

"Back when my second transformation took place, I started seeing trails of light that I thought were chakra. I was wrong. Chakra flows within us, where as what I saw was something that guided your bodies, took shape of your actions before you executed them."

Hinata found it hard to conceive; a whole new and unknown entity that flows through every human. The fact that Kiyoshi could see it, was stunning. "You can see spirit?"

"Yes, and at some points this ability is somewhat like your Byakugan. Although not as strong, it has the potential act as a scout of the surrounding area," replied Kiyoshi, "I have managed to find Hikari using this ability. Rather not find, but spot her. She has been following me ever since I came to visit her grave."

Naruto couldn't believe it; his friend, the psychic, was telling him about a whole new world of spiritual sense. "If you knew she was around, why didn't you come back to Konoha?"

"Before I tell you that, please know this. Foresight and Byakugan are like sixth sense abilities. They open a whole new way of feeling, seeing and interpreting one's surroundings," replied Kiyoshi, "If I had come earlier, the whole village would have died."

"What?" exclaimed Naruto, "Why?"

"There was something following me, something that I thought was bad luck, or my being a death god. The whole fault was my own, yes, but it was not me that brought all the mischief around me."

"What was it?" asked Hinata.

"An actual death god," replied Kiyoshi, "It had been following me ever since my first kill at age 9."

"Why was it following you?"

"It saw potential in me... potential to kill."

"So it brought the scum of the world to you?"

Kiyoshi nodded, "Every living thing that I've killed, was a soul for the death god to eat. It became stronger with every person I killed."

Naruto swallowed, "Did you get rid of it?"

"Hai," smiled Kiyoshi, "When that pirate ship exploded, the death god became a monster. It had grown huge, consuming the escaping souls one after another, and growing more with each one."

"You got rid of it, right?" repeated Naruto.

Kiyoshi ignored the interruption and carried on, "It grew bigger and bigger, but couldn't consume Hikari. Her spirit was too great. Eventually I found an old man who helped me get as close to death as I could get, giving me the time I need to help Hikari send the beast back into the soul gate."

"You died to save her..." guessed Hinata

"Hai. But it wasn't my time to die just yet, that's not what Hikari wanted for me. She pushed me back into my body."

"What did the monster look like?"

Kiyoshi looked up as if recalling the moment, "He didn't look like anything."

"What do you mean?"

"Spirits have no form unless they are in a body or they desire to have a form. Even when they do have form, it's a form of bright light, bright shine of the color that defines the personality of the being. This thing wasn't light at all; it was darkness that consumed light... a black hole."

Naruto was curious as to what color he was, but didn't want to carry the conversation on any further. "Let's get you home for now. We will hear the rest of your story over a bowl of ramen or some tea," he looked around, "A dark bunker filled with spider-webs and dust doesn't strike me as a cheery place to discuss spirits."

"Oh god..." sighed Jiraiya, "I shouldn't be saying this, but I sort of feel sorry for him."

For the previous half an hour, Sakura had been telling Jiraiya what she knew about Kiyoshi. Apparently, the perverted excuse for a sennin didn't take idea of the scarred kid too lightly. "He has helped everyone in multiple ways, even though he has very little motive."

"He's stupid," stated Jiraiya, "He should value his life a lot more than he does."

"He feels that his life brings suffering to the world," replied Sakura.

Jiraiya stood up to find this kid, "Everyone has the right to live. He has it no less than anyone else."

"Do what you will, but I have to get back to the hospital," replied Sakura, "And if you touch a single hair on Kiyoshi, you'll have to go to the hospital too."

"I know what I'm doing."

Sakura shook her head, "Seriously, the former generation is so unwise."

Jiraiya was about start lecturing the girl about watching her mouth and all, but Sakura interrupted him, "He has a right to live, as well as the right to die," said Sakura. Jiraiya was speechless; he didn't know what to say. "He has the right to choose for himself."

Jiraiya nodded, "Considering his history, he has every right to be so pessimistic, but..."

The girl corrected him again, "Who said he's pessimistic? He was the cheeriest guy next to Naruto up until Hikari died," said Sakura, "Everything was taken from him, and he knows nobody's to blame. Who else can he blame but himself?"

"How do you know so much about him? You didn't spend that much time with him."

Sakura turned around and resumed walking back to the hospital, "Just think about it before lecturing him."

"Kids these days..." mumbled Jiraiya unhappily, shocked by the fact that a person five times younger than him just outwitted him.

Kiyoshi fell asleep on the instant his back came in contact with the bed; the whole drugging had tired him out, and his circulatory system was weak against poisons.

Hinata stared at the boy, "Naruto, can you fall asleep as fast as he does?"

Naruto shook his head in disbelief. Naruto then remembered something, "Shit..."

"What is it?"

"I have to get back to the office, there are papers piling up, and I've spent too much time hunting Kiyoshi down," he looked down at Kiyoshi and back at Hinata, "I..."

"It's alright, go ahead," replied Hinata and pecked him on the cheek, "I'll take care of Kiyoshi."

"Thanks," grinned Naruto and darted out the front door.

On the way back to work from his rather long lunch break, Naruto ran around a corner and sent Jiraiya flipping to one side, his frog to another. He was too focused on the piercing pain in his lungs to notice that he just sent an old man flying.

"Today's not my day," groaned Jiraiya as he was getting up. "Where does this guy live?"

Hinata made herself some tea and started looking through various books on Kiyoshi's shelf. She then turned her attention to his sleep-mumbling, she leaned closer to listen to his quiet words."

"Table... monkey..." grumbled Kiyoshi, then screamed without a warning, "Oil paint pudding!" so loud that Hinata tumbled back in surprise.

Jiraiya knocked on Kiyoshi's door; there was a shuffle inside. "Anyone home?" asked the frog hermit. The lock clicked, and the door opened; Hinata had greeted the old man inside.

"Hinata? What are you doing here?" asked Jiraiya, walking past the still surprised-by-Kiyoshi Hinata. "Well?" he asked again after a short pause.

Hinata snapped out of her stunned self, "Ino kidnapped Kiyoshi, Naruto and I saved him, and then He had to go back to work, so I stayed to watch over Kiyoshi."

Jiraiya stared at her for a moment, then nodded, "I see..."

"He's sleeping," said Hinata, nodding, aware that her input was a very obvious piece of information.

"Right..."

Hinata looked at Jiraiya for a moment, "Sennin-san..."

"Call me Jiraiya," replied the man.

"Osu," said Hinata, "Jiraiya-sama, how do summoning jutsu work?"

Jiraiya was surprised by such a serious question so soon after all the random and pointless events. "Well, it's not something that could be studied, because summonings are instantaneous phenomena."

"But how did we figure out summoning jutsu then?"

Jiraiya recalled an old lesson he received from his sensei, but the only thing he could remember was the fact that he fell asleep five minutes into the lecture and woke up five days after. "I'm not sure..." replied Jiraiya, "I think humanity just stumbled upon it."

Hinata looked at the legendary sennin and something inside her told her that the man in front of her was a spoiled brat; the kind of childish attitude that usually resided in six-year-olds and famous writers. "Stumbled upon it?"

Jiraiya thought back to his lessons, the wretched training sessions when his sensei taught him to summon. For three weeks straight, he could only manage to summon a tadpole. "I can't remember the history of it, but I think it happened when there was an all-out fight between seven ninja. They waited for the fight to start, and simultaneously created the seals that are required to summon," suggested Jiraiya, and then chuckled, "I could only imagine their surprise."

Hinata stared at the happy old man, "Naruto's more mature than you."

Jiraiya stumbled and fell to the ground. "That's not nice at all..."

"That doesn't prevent it from being absolutely true."

Jiraiya shrugged with agreement, "Although he doesn't have my experience, he will grow up to be ten times greater..." nodded Jiraiya, "Each generation will surpass the previous." 


	14. Chapter 14 Campfire

Chapter 14 

Kiyoshi woke up to find himself lying in the backyard. He yawned and looked around. Smell of something delicious was in the air; something seasoned and cooked over an open fire. He looked rolled over onto his back, to find a black, starry, night sky, and sparks rising and fading from somewhere nearby.

Kiyoshi sat up and yawned once again, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He looked to his right and spotted Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, another Naruto, and Jiraiya sitting around a campfire, roasting something that looked like a meter long rabbit.

"What in the hell is that?" mumbled Kiyoshi, staring at the food that would soon be in his mouth.

He didn't expect anything to happen, at least not what actually had happened. The group of five people picked up the rabbit and rushed over to Kiyoshi in the blink of an eye, stuffing it into his ever-expanding mouth.

Kiyoshi tried to scream, but his mouth was full of the uncooked rabbit that still hasn't been skinned properly. The two Narutos held him down, as the other three pushed the food down his throat.

Kiyoshi woke up from the strange nightmare, and looked around.

He found himself in his backyard, under a starry sky, not too far away from an open fire roasting a meter long rabbit. He had a nasty case of deja vu for the last few days, and was wishing with all his might that it would stop before it got too ridiculous.

Hinata spotted Kiyoshi standing up, "Hey, third-wheeler, come join us!"

"Great..." thought Kiyoshi, "I got an unsanitary nickname." Kiyoshi looked around, and found himself calmly walking towards the group, not struggling against idiotic acts, not pulling patches of rabbit-fur out of his mouth, and considering how stupid he was for thinking about all of this. He kept caution however, still expecting the group to try and ambush him, but kept the cool in his face.

Kiyoshi came up to the fire and sat down. He was cold; he held his arms out over the fire to warm them up. The satisfying smell of firewood was in the air, and a crispy god-knows-what was getting nice and edible. "Why am I outside?"

Sakura shrugged, "Why not?"

"Good point."

One of the Narutos looked up at Kiyoshi, "Is Hikari around?"

"Most likely," replied Kiyoshi, "I can't always see her. But she's with me most of the time."

"Must suck..." suggested Jiraiya, "Not having any privacy at all."

Kiyoshi looked up at the old man, "Who are you?"

Jiraiya bobbed his head down in disappointment, "Nobody told you?"

Kiyoshi stared at Jiraiya, trying to remember where he saw the old man's face before. He couldn't put his finger on it, until the old man looked up and grinned. "Oh my god..." whispered Kiyoshi, then exclaimed, "You're Jiraiya-sama!"

The old man raised an eyebrow, "People usually recognize me as a sennin..."

"You're the author of 'make-out tactics'!"

A spark appeared in the old man's eyes, "So that's how you know me..."

The rest of the teens watched from aside, as Jiraiya and Kiyoshi got into a heated discussion about the old man's porno novel. "Is it possible that they're related?" asked Naruto.

Hinata knew that's impossible, but at this point she was starting to consider it, "A long bloodline of perverts?"

Sakura however, didn't care one bit about the march of the shameless; she just kept her eyes on the oversized rabbit, turning it over every few seconds. "Settle down you two. You can have an interview when nobody's around."

Hinata glanced at Sakura. She didn't know what Sakura had been going through in her line of work. The pink haired girl was constantly being hit on by perverted male patients... most of them were Jiraiya. She managed to develop a certain kind of immunity to the sort of people; she was now totally oblivious to conversations such as Kiyoshi and Jiraiya were having.

"I think it's ready," said Sakura, piercing the crispy meat with a sharp object, "Yeah, it's definitely ready."

Kiyoshi gave up on trying to convince Jiraiya in the flaw of making certain two characters fall in love, cut off the rabbit's leg, and started munching it, happily.

"When was the last time you've eaten?" asked Naruto.

Kiyoshi paused ant tried to remember for a moment. "Three hours before Sakura had punched me out of your office," he replied.

Naruto's stomach grumbled at the thought of not eating for such a long time. "Must hurt..."

"Nah," smiled Kiyoshi, "I can go on for three months without food... need drink though..."

Naruto and his clone burst into tears from the words. Three months of starvation is like eternity in hell to him. "Cut it out!"

"Hai, hai," agreed Kiyoshi, "I don't want to think about it either."

Naruto laid himself down on the grass, and looked up at the stars. The void was pitch-black and the stars were extra bright, not a single cloud to stop the stars from shining through.

Hinata came over to Naruto and lay down beside him, resting her head on his chest. "Look," said Hinata, pointing up at the stars, "Scorpio."

Naruto smiled, he didn't want the night to end, but deep down inside knew that it never would. From there on out, his life is changed; the get-together of him and his friends was the start of something big.

"There's one thing I've been meaning to ask you," said Jiraiya, "Why did Sakura call you Hokage?"

Naruto shot an evil glance at Sakura, making her fall off her chair, luckily away from the fire. He sighed; although the news of his new position had spread more than he wanted it to, the only people who knew about it were looking at him.

"I was placed as the substitute Hokage, while Tsunade went away on business," replied Naruto.

There was a moment of silence.

Jiraiya burst out laughing, "You? Hokage?"

Kiyoshi shot an apple at the old man, which whizzed through the air and planted itself neatly into Jiraiya's open mouth. The old man gagged and pulled the fruit out. "What the hell?"

Kiyoshi looked disappointed, "Aw, I thought I would cook you like a pig..."

Jiraiya summoned a frog and started chasing the longhaired teen around the yard, "I'll get you!"

Sakura laughed, and then turned to Naruto, "Naruto-kun, I'm sorry about letting it slip out, your rank."

Naruto's eyes widened, "You're talking to me?" screamed the boy, "Don't talk to me! Go make me pie!"

Sakura rushed inside the house in terror.

The boy snapped back into reality, "Whoa..." he said, rubbing his head, "What happened just now?"

Jiraiya stopped chasing Kiyoshi and stepped up to Naruto, "You were serious... you've been made Hokage."

"Hai."

Jiraiya was insulted that he wasn't offered the position. Although he would have turned it down, it would be nice to be asked.

"There is one thing that I've been meaning to ask as well," said Naruto, then turned to Kiyoshi, "Kakashi was the last one to see you before the ship blew up."

Kiyoshi groaned, he didn't want to talk about what happened the night Hikari died, the night that the old Kiyoshi died. He wanted to talk about the morning when he was reborn, when he was reunited with Hikari. The one thing that halted him from stopping the conversation, was that what he wanted, was clichИ and cheesy to talk about.

"Yeah," eventually replied Kiyoshi, "He saw me before I blew up the ship. What about it?"

Naruto rubbed his chin, he wasn't sure if he wanted to ask Kiyoshi about it, but gathered the courage and went ahead, "Kakashi told me that you were cut up, burnt, and..." Naruto hesitated for a moment, but then asked, "Your eye was missing?"

"Yeah," replied Kiyoshi without moving his sight from the fire, "My right eye is missing."

Everybody stared at him in confusion, they observed his right eye, which looked normal to some extent, but with a closer observation it looked a bit out of place. Could have been the color, or the texture or size of the iris, nobody was sure, but something was definitely out of ordinary about his teal colored right eye.

"Huh?" asked Naruto.

Kiyoshi looked away from the fire and at the spiky-haired boy lying under Hinata, "What?"

"Then what┘" asked Naruto, "You replaced it? Where's the scar?"

The longhaired teen shook his head in disbelief, "Hokage-sama... how about a closer observation?"

Naruto focused on Kiyoshi's face, forced whatever ability he had at spotting details, and then realized, "What the hell?"

"Yeah," smiled Kiyoshi, "You got it."

"Your face is not the way it should be!" exclaimed Naruto.

Kiyoshi nodded, "You wouldn't recognize me if I came into Konoha with my true face," he explained, and ran through a few hand seals, "Release!"

Everybody stared at him in deep shock, it was in fact true, they could not recognize him. It was as if he want through war; and experience was shown through the heavy look and scars on his face. There was no word for it but 'harsh', his eyelids were semi-closed as if swollen, creating a straight line that covered his eyes. His pores were visible, and a numerous small scars were on his left cheek closer to the ear. He had an eye patch that covered his right eye, and a diagonal scar that ran from his right cheekbone, under the eye-patch, and faded before it could reach the center of his forehead.

"Well then..." mumbled Naruto, eyeing Kiyoshi's neck scars, and rubbing his own neck as if trying to soothe the idea of a cut throat. He then turned to Hinata, who was petrified and speechless, "Hinata, what's your opinion on this?"

Sakura stepped out of the house with a freshly baked apple on a tray. She spotted the crude looking stranger, assumed that it's Kiyoshi, shrugged, and set the tray down on a cheap foldable table. "Did I miss something?"

Jiraiya smiled, "I'm sorry I underestimated you, kid. It looks like you have enough experience to know what you're talking about."

Hinata stared at Kiyoshi, fear, terror spreading through her very soul, "I don't get you. Why did you do that? We all know you didn't have to blow yourself up. Why would you?"

Kiyoshi looked over at Hinata; he didn't want to answer the question, so he shook his head. "I've come to realize that all actions are stupid when you look back at them. Just when you think you won't make another mistake, you go ahead and make one."

"Regrets?" asked Naruto.

Kiyoshi nodded, "Everybody has them. And if they don't, then the minor ones become big."

Naruto grinned, "I'm glad I don't have any."

Kiyoshi raised an eyebrow, "No regrets? There's nothing that you feel you could have done differently in the past?"

"Well..." said Naruto without any concern for the topic, "I guess there are things that I wish had never happened. But I know that I did my best to prevent them."

Something snapped inside Kiyoshi, "Prevent them..." he thought, "I was the cause of every regret I have... how could I prevent them when I am the cause?" He then looked back down from the stars at Naruto, with a slight hint of tears in his eyes, "I envy you."

Naruto didn't really consider the subject up until that point; he was playing with Hinata's hair. Naruto looked up at Kiyoshi in astonishment. He had never realized that he was blessed with such a strong will to live, such an instinct to do right and avoid regrets. "It's my way of the ninja," smiled Naruto.

"You were indeed born to be great. Whoever your father was, he would be proud..." Kiyoshi then turned his voice to Hinata, "Just as Hiashi should be."

Jiraiya and Sakura took the time to play sudoku, until Kiyoshi turned to them. Attention drawn away from the game of numbers, Sakura turned her glance around until it met Kiyoshi's gaze. There was a moment of silence until she eventually asked, "What?"

"Say something," explained Kiyoshi.

Jiraiya didn't turn away from his sheet of paper, and replied before Sakura could come up with the words, "Hinata has nice boobs."

This time, Kiyoshi managed to stuff an apple in the old man's mouth, tie him up, and marinate him for cooking. The old man started trying to scream, but then noticed that Naruto had gotten up to help Kiyoshi set the old man up over the fire.

After a moment of torment, they cut him loose. Jiraiya lay on the ground, panting from the near-death experience. "No sexist comments about Hinata... got it," he eventually said.

"You're lucky that I'm not angry enough to go cannibalistic on you!" exclaimed Kiyoshi. The comment drew everybody's attention. There was an awkward silence, eventually he asked, "What?"

Sakura resumed her game of sudoku, and replied, "Cannibalism isn't healthy."

"You sounded more concerned about him than me just now!" yelled Jiraiya, "Aren't you a doctor? Why didn't you stop him?"

"I'm a girl too," explained Sakura.

Naruto shook the pointless turn of events off. Instead, he turned to matters that he cared slightly more about, "Kiyoshi," he said, "Tell us more about what happened to you. Just what on earth happened to you?"

"Before I say anything, I would like to make a note," said Kiyoshi, "I am stupid."

"Note taken," replied Naruto, "Now tell us more about the life of Kiyoshi Inamotou."

Kiyoshi sat down, "Tell me what you know."

"I know about Hikari, I know about the soul-sight thigamawhosit, I know a little about your clan, and the death-god thing that followed you around."

Jiraiya stared at the two blind boys in excessive confusion, "You know what now?"

Hinata dragged Sakura and Jiraiya off to the side to explain what Kiyoshi had already told them back in the worn-out bunker. Kiyoshi felt like an old geezer for what he was about to do; he was about to start telling Naruto unbelievable and unrealistic stories about his past, which just so happened to be true.

"I don't know what's happening to me," said Kiyoshi, "And I don't know a single thing about the order that killed my clan. The order is more invisible than ghosts."

"Well what do you know?"

Kiyoshi tried to formulate a proper response, but only came up with "I know that I'm scared."

"That's all?"

"The thing that contacted me when I fought with Hiashi," started Kiyoshi, but then paused, as if searching his sanity for the right words, "It's contacted me before."

"What? When?"

Kiyoshi couldn't recall the precise moment, the memory was very blurry. It was dark, bloody, hell, "Back on our mission in the summer."

"Are you sure?"

Kiyoshi nodded, "Two times," he then felt the scars that he received in from his dreams in Inari's house. "They came to me in my dreams once... they attacked me."

Naruto lifted an eyebrow, "In your dreams? That's not too bad."

Kiyoshi showed him the scars, "The attacks were on my mind, but I suffered physically."

"Shit..." whispered Naruto, eyeing the long and deep scars. "When was the second time?"

Kiyoshi still couldn't put his finger on the second intervention, "Well, the first one was just to catch my attention," he explained, "The second one, the creature told me to get stronger. It told me that when the time came, I would have to confront them."

"Wow..." thought Naruto, "I have to consider his sanity for a moment..."

"In any case," continued Kiyoshi, "I have this legendary power, this unknown enemy, undying love for Hikari, and no desire to fight what so ever," said Kiyoshi, "The possibilities are, that I'm either totally insane, or dead in the near future."

A/N: This is getting harder with every word. I'm sorry for the slow updates, unlike I had daily ones back with "Lost Soul". I can't tell you how glad I am from the fact that you actually read this, and I can wish for nothing more.

To tell you the truth, this story is falling apart, and I'm struggling with all my efforts to keep it together. I barely know where I'm trying to go, and even less where I should go, but I have an interesting twist lined up for you. I know how much I have messed up, and I've already lost count of my mistakes, but unlike so many authors before me, I'm not going to chicken out. I'll take this story to whatever end it leads me, and won't back down no matter what. Even if this story fails, and I lose respect of many people, I won't regret the fact that I didn't back down.

That is all, thanks for reading.

-Silencer299


	15. Chapter 15 Confrontation

Chapter 15 

Kiyoshi sat on a branch of a high tree, reading his book in front of a beautiful sunrise. He heard a branch below him shuffle its leaves in a warning chime; he closed his eyes, and opened them in his blood-limit form.

"Hey, Naruto," he said and went back to reading his book.

Naruto jumped up onto a branch nearby, "That's an awesome power..." said Naruto, "Do you see my color?"

Kiyoshi nodded, "Yes, but I can't make it out... it's too bright."

"What does that mean?"

"You have a strong soul."

Naruto grinned and sat down against the tree, looking out at the sunrise. "I'm having trouble..."

"Oh?" asked Kiyoshi without looking up from his book.

"I've been thinking about what I would say when I confront Hiashi."

"What's the problem?"

"Well..." said Naruto, "Every time I imagine myself talking to the guy, it always ends up with him putting many holes in my torso. I don't really like that. I like not having holes in my torso."

"As do I," replied Kiyoshi, "You should be careful when you talk to him, he's dangerous. But I'm afraid I won't be much help in the matter."

Naruto looked over his shoulder at Kiyoshi, "Why not?"

Kiyoshi put his book down on his lap and looked up at the sky, "It's a gamble."

"How so?"

"Well, your objective is to confront him without any violent outcomes. Right?"

"Right."

"On the one hand, if I come, it'll be harder for you to talk sense into him. He has a grudge against me, and he'd just be pissed off more if I came," explained Kiyoshi, "But I would be there to back you up if things got out of hand."

"Right..."

"On the other hand, if I don't come, you won't have the back-up, but you will have a bigger shot at a peaceful conversation."

"What do you suggest?"

Kiyoshi picked up the book again and started reading it, "Go without me. Hinata would definitely like it if you didn't fight her father."

Kiyoshi's words struck Naruto; he recalled his promise to Hinata a while back. He picked her up by the waist, looked deep into her eyes, and promised that he wouldn't let it come to a fight between Hiashi and himself. "Right."

Hinata's previous day's clothes smelled of crisp campfire smoke. She had a dream where she had forced Kiyoshi to eat the whole rabbit, then woke up from the confusing dream.

Hiashi was sitting on a chair by the wall in her room, patiently waiting for his daughter to wake up.

Hinata got up and yawned so hard that tears came out of her eyes. She looked over at Hiashi without surprise; somehow she had known he would be there. "Good morning."

"We need to talk."

There was a pause, then Hinata spoke, "No good morning?"

Hiashi smiled, "Good morning, Hinata."

The girl got up and started stretching, "So what do you want to talk to me about?"

"Sit down please," said Hiashi, "It's about the Jinchuuriki."

"Naruto," corrected Hinata.

"Right," replied Hiashi, "I can't let you date him unless he shows me that he has the privilege to."

Hinata didn't understand what her father was saying; she just looked him in the eyes with a blank expression of confusion.

"You can't go outside today."

Hinata stood up and exclaimed "What? Why not?"

Hiashi stood up and walked over to the door, he turned his head and spoke back to Hinata over his shoulder, "If he doesn't have the courage to face me, what kind of a boyfriend would he make?"

"You stay right there!" exclaimed Hinata, making Hiashi halt and turn around, "Naruto'll come without doubt, but don't you forget the promise that you made me. No fighting him."

"I remember the promise," said Hiashi. "But he has to prove his worth to me. If not through fight, then through something better."

Hinata and Hiashi stopped arguing, there were alarming exclamations coming from the outside, scoffs of disgust and shame.

"How shameful!"

"Disgraceful!"

"Get out of Konoha!"

Naruto walked through the Hyuga estate, not even a thought of backing down came to his head, not even with all the insults and shaming going on around him. He just fixed his sights upon Hinata's house and walked through the crowd.

"What the..." said Hiashi, looking outside his window, "What's he doing here?"

Hinata smiled, "He's come to confront you."

Hiashi was stunned with Naruto's boldness, but then shook it off. He turned around, walked out of Hinata's room, and to the front door.

Naruto walked up the clean wooden steps of the house, and came up to the door. Before he could do anything, the door slid open, Hiashi stood in its place. "Hi"

"What's your business here? Jinchuuriki?" hissed Hiashi.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, "I've come to pick up Hinata. We're going to the movies."

"The hell you are," replied Hiashi, and pushed the boy off the front steps. He then followed Naruto outside and went into a battle stance. "I won't let you take Hinata anywhere."

Naruto stood up straight, "I'm not taking her anywhere. She's coming with me."

"I can't allow that either."

"And I'm not going to fight you," said Naruto, "I made a promise."

Hiashi hesitated, "Then defend yourself."

"No."

Hinata watched this from inside her room in terror. "Please, no."

"Defend yourself!" roared Hiashi.

Naruto folded his arms in a stubborn display, "I'm not going to defend myself. But I suggest you stop. Hinata doesn't want any conflict between us."

Hiashi ignored Naruto's words and advanced forward, "You have absolutely no right to take the Hyuga clan's heir. Leave now, boy, before you get hurt."

The blond boy stood his ground against a blow. He could only remember vague blurs after that, until he woke up in a hospital. Ino was standing over him and staring into his eyes.

Naruto froze, shifted his eyes from side to side, then back up at Ino's. "What are you doing?"

Ino backed away and made a few scribbles in her notebook. She came close to him again and turned his head to the side, "I'm examining you. You were seriously beat up and dying. Shikamaru found you in a dumpster outside the Hyuga estate in a critical condition, and brought you here."

She backed away and scribbled more notes on the paper. She then pulled Naruto's bed-sheet down and started unbuttoning his shirt.

Naruto felt very uncomfortable, but found no way he could struggle. He had no feeling in neither his arms nor legs. "That asshole actually attacked me... shit..."

"I know," replied Ino, "It sucks that you lost the fight against Hiashi."

"I wasn't fighting him, and that's not what's bothering me," replied Naruto.

"You didn't fight back? Why not?"

"I'm afraid for Hinata. She's probably terrified right now."

Ino paused for a moment, "Idiot! You should be more concerned about yourself! As soon as your limpness goes away, you'll be in more pain than a human body can bear. The limpness will disappear in an instant, your body won't be able to handle so much pain at once, you'll go into shock, and most likely die."

Naruto bobbed his head to the side, "Shit."

"That's why I'm here. I'll take over your mind when the limpness goes away, so that you won't feel it."

Naruto looked up at the blonde girl sharply, and exclaimed "You'll what?"

Ino put her notebook off to the side, "It'll wear off any minute now."

"But what'll happen to you?"

"My mind will probably die in your stead," replied the girl and aimed her seal at Naruto's head.

Naruto struggled to move, but couldn't budge his limbs. "No! Don't."

Naruto's back arched over the bed, as he felt an extraordinary shockwave of searing pain engulfed him. He couldn't remember anything after an instant of experiencing the pain. He woke up with Ino collapsed on a chair beside him.

Barely conscious, she weakly looked over at him and spoke, "It's fine. We'll all live by the end of today," she then lifelessly bobbed her head to the side and spoke no more.

Naruto jumped from his bed and caught the blonde girl before she fell to the floor from the chair. "Ino!" he yelled, and shook her. Then felt for the girl's pulse, it was steadily beating, and she was breathing. He sighed in relief, "Thank you."

Hinata sat in her room and cried for over an hour. The tears were stinging, her eyes were red, and she went through five boxes of tissue paper. She looked out her window, and flinched. The street of the Hyuga estate had established a painful feeling every time she looked at it. Two times had Hiashi stepped over the line; two times Hiashi had nearly killed her closest friends. She had no desire to be a part of the Hyuga clan anymore, let alone be its heir. She turned and looked up at the ceiling, "I'm going to run away..."

Time slowed down and she slowly turned her head to the window, which was the source of a soft knock. She didn't understand why she couldn't move quickly, everything was slow. She accidentally dropped a tissue paper while getting up, and was startled by the fact that it was falling very slowly. She hoped that an explanation for the slow motion was outside her window.

She opened her window and looked down. Kiyoshi's eyes met hers. "Hi," said the boy."

"Kiyoshi! Run before Hiashi finds out you're here!"

Kiyoshi smiled, "Don't worry. He won't catch me while I have this jutsu activated."

"Why are you here in the first place?"

"I've just come to say that Naruto'll be fine. Shikamaru and I found him, and took him to a hospital."

"Hiashi stopped me from helping Naruto..." said Hinata, and a tear rolled down her cheek, "Is he all right?"

The tear that had previously rolled down Hinata's cheek, landed on Kiyoshi's forehead, but he ignored it. "He'll be fine," replied Kiyoshi, "Shikamaru said that Ino will take care of him."

"You didn't go with him?"

Kiyoshi scoffed, "The last place I want to be is anywhere near Ino."

"Thank you, Kiyoshi. Send my thanks to Shikamaru please."

"Will do," replied Kiyoshi and turned around. "I'll be going, your dad's probably noticed me by now." Kiyoshi disappeared in a cloud of smoke right before Hiashi came around a corner to find Hinata staring out her window. Time resumed its original consistence, nothing was slow anymore.

Hinata closed her window and went back inside. She collapsed on the bed and went to sleep.


	16. Chapter 16 Dogs

Chapter 16 

It was wet, damp, his toes were itchy, and above all it was cold. Not the usual kind of cold that happens in late October, but colder and more humid. His quiet splashes could be heard from deep inside the marsh, it was unavoidable.

Kiyoshi passed through the deep patches of water and soft hills of grass that contracted when he stepped on them. The nasty sound and various unpleasant feelings passed from his feet up through his mind, and the sounds could be heard by anyone within earshot, which was at this moment fifty meters. He halted when he saw a shadow rush past the reeds and fog in front of him; he then sharply turned his head to the left and managed to catch a glance of the shadow before it made another round.

Unsatisfied, he groaned and resumed his search. He clicked his headpiece and small static nearly blew out his eardrum. He flinched, waited for his hearing to come back to normal, and spoke, "Sector clear, report in team."

There was a lot of fuzz coming through his little gadget, but the words "Negative" and "Nothing here" managed to squeeze through the static.

One of the voices made him flinch, a female voice that he wasn't necessarily fond of, for the owner of the voice had kidnapped him a few days earlier. Ino spoke again, "I heard movement in the marsh. Are you alright?"

Kiyoshi mumbled something back; something that nobody who was listening could make out, but resembled something soothing like a sound that a drier makes when it doesn't clang with forgotten pocket-change.

"What was that?" asked the other teammate lazily, "I couldn't make that out..."

"I'm fine!" barked Kiyoshi so that his words would get through all the distortion. "Let's check the forest."

Naruto was sitting in the Hokage office and spending some well-deserved time on reading a history book. He had managed to somehow, against all logic and possibility, finish his fresh load of paperwork. Triumphantly, he smiled. He didn't activate any clones, and he didn't even wear his disguise of Tsunade. The history book was no longer something that represented hard work that should take a fair amount of seriousness, concentration, and effort, but it was something that resembled paradise to him.

Kiyoshi, covered in sludge, marsh, and dripping wet, casually strolled into the Hokage's office with a puppy in his hands.

"Oh Tsunade-sama..." he said in sing-song, "Look at what a good boy I've got here..." said Kiyoshi in a slightly annoying voice and started cuddling the happy little puppy.

Transforming into Tsunade was now a natural reaction to Naruto, much like breathing, or throwing something heavy at Sakura whenever she was in his sight. He glanced up from his book at Kiyoshi, then down at the puppy in the guy's hands. He then looked down at the wet carpet under Kiyoshi and sighed, "Who let you in here?"

Ino and Shikamaru walked in with towels over their shoulders, also dripping wet, but trying to dry themselves off. "Mission complete!" exclaimed Ino, making Kiyoshi flinch and drop the puppy.

The puppy fell to the ground, but landed on its feet. It then looked around the office and fixed its curious stare on Naruto. There was a scary snarl, not the kind that one would expect from a puppy that's barely two feet long, ears the size of wind country, and fur that could easily earn him the right to be named 'spot'.

"Not again..." though Naruto. He looked up at the two teens with towels, "You're dismissed."

"Hai," they said simultaneously, turned around, and walked out the door without a glance back at the puppy. They thought it was pretty natural for animals to dislike Tsunade's scary nature.

Naruto looked back down at the puppy. The rage in its eyes was unnatural. "Kiyoshi, this is a personal mission that I'm going to ask of you as a friend, and therefore I can not offer you any pay."

"But I can refuse?"

"Absolutely," agreed Naruto, "But I don't think you have anything better to do, and I would greatly appreciate if you'd help me out."

Kiyoshi gave off a short, light chuckle to indicate the fact that Naruto had a point. "I could go home and take a nice, warm bath... but what the hey, what do you need?"

"Thanks," smiled Naruto, "Can you figure out why all dogs hate me these days?"

Kiyoshi shrugged, "Canine competition?"

"I remember days when I could pet a small puppy without losing a limb."

Kiyoshi started laughing at the fact that the puppy was now trying to eat Naruto's foot. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks," said Naruto. He then gave Kiyoshi a small piece of paper with an address on it, "This is where the owner of this puppy lives. Give the address to Ino and tell her to inform the owner that we found their dog."

Kiyoshi started uneasily shifting from foot to foot, and looking in every direction but Naruto's. "Hokage..."

Naruto stopped his friend before he could complain, "Please, talk to her. She's my friend too, and I don't want any friction between you two."

"Naruto," said Kiyoshi, which was the first time he called Naruto by his true name while he was in Tsunade's form, "She kidnapped me and drugged me."

Naruto leaned over to him, "And since when do you, oh mighty Kiyoshi, have become afraid of humiliation?"

"Good point..."

Naruto turned back to his book, "I know it is. You're free to go, and thanks for helping me out."

Kiyoshi looked down at the small parchment of paper with scribbles on it, he couldn't believe he would have to talk to Ino again after such a short time after the unpleasant incident. Although he was used to torture, he didn't find talking to the torturers quite appealing. It was like trying to have a civil conversation with a man that had raped you moments ago. "See you later."

Kiyoshi walked down the steps, no longer thinking about confronting Ino, but confronting somebody else. He would have to get Kakashi's help if he was going to find the reason behind the dogs' behavior.

He stepped out of the building. Shikamaru, not too surprisingly, was nowhere in sight; he went home to relax. Kiyoshi saw the blonde girl leaning against a lamppost and looking at him with a not-so-cheery expression. He shuddered.

"Kiyoshi..."

He halted her speech by turning his head down and signaling 'stop' with his open palm. He then took out the piece of parchment with his free hand, handed it over to Ino, and started walking away.

"I'm sorry!" exclaimed Ino, running after Kiyoshi, "I don't know what came over me. You don't know me, but that was definitely something that I wouldn't do!"

Kiyoshi didn't stop, "Then you can't possibly make any less of an impression on me anymore. Leave me alone for now though, I have work to do."

Ino stopped chasing him and watched him walk away, "Fine! But be careful, something's going on in Konoha, something is out of place!"

Kiyoshi froze; he didn't notice it before. He couldn't put his finger on it, but Ino was right; something was definitely out of place. People weren't acting the way that they should have been. Even though change occurred, this was definitely out of the pattern. Change always happens in random segments that make things either better or worse, but lately everything had been going against people's trust. Hiashi kept attacking Hinata's friends, Naruto had stolen Kiyoshi's weights, and Ino had kidnapped him.

He sharply turned his head at Ino, as if he had realized something. "You're right."

Ino lifted an eyebrow in confusion, "About what?"

Kiyoshi shook his head, "I'll tell you later. That's the address to the puppy's owner, go there and tell them that we found the puppy."

Ino was confused, "Osu!"

Kiyoshi turned around and rushed off to Kakashi's den. "This might have something to do with the dogs..."

Kakashi was killing time. Strangely enough, he didn't kill it by reading, but decided to take a nap. His life had lost almost all meaning since no missions were issued in the past months, and the occasional lost pet didn't catch his attention, he simply left it as exercise for the other less experienced ninjas of Konoha.

The blond boy knocked on his door. There was no response. He knocked once again, Kakashi stirred a little bit. Kiyoshi decided to walk in without invitation. He opened the door, walked up to Kakashi and poked him. The next few moments took part in the world of instinct; Kakashi pulled a kunai out from under his pillow and attempted a slash at Kiyoshi's throat.

Kiyoshi turned his body to the right, but kept sight of Kakashi. He moved his trench coat off the left Kodachi with his left hand, and pulled the weapon with his right hand. The Kodachi slithered halfway out of its sheath, and the blunt part got in the way of Kakashi's attack.

The instantaneous motions snapped Kakashi out of sleep. He sharply looked up at the point of conflict between the two blades, then up at Kiyoshi. "What are you doing here?"

"There are dogs after Naruto."

"Again?"

"All the time."

Kakashi sat up and rubbed his eye. A few seconds passed before he realized something, "You're talking to me again?"

Kiyoshi sat down beside him, "I want to apologize."

"Did you have an intervention or something?"

Kiyoshi hid his eyes and smiled, "Yeah, the fault was my own," he started, almost as if he was planning out a speech to give to Kakashi. Then he opened his eyes and the smile faded, "I'm sorry I doubted your judgment, I had no right to question you."

"Even though my logic contradicted your feelings?" quizzed Kakashi

Kiyoshi sighed, "Yeah. It sucks that things ended as they did. But for once, I don't regret it."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows, "Why not?"

"Everything turned out for the better," replied Kiyoshi, "Things may not seem like it, but somehow I feel better."

"Hikari died, Kiyoshi," Kakashi reminded him, "She died!"

Kiyoshi looked up and realized that Kakashi didn't know about Hikari. "Well... yeah she did," Kiyoshi replied as if he's stating the obvious and irrelevant. "That's just another step in life, death."

Kakashi was starting to lose respect for the youth in front of him, "Of all people, Kiyoshi, you should be the most heartbroken."

Kiyoshi activated his blood-limit and looked around the room, "Hikari, I need you to show yourself once again."

There was an air of disappointment that filled the room. Kakashi was surprised to feel it, but he did never the less. He stared at Kiyoshi, as the blond unraveled the ribbons on his wrists and held them out at arm's length.

Kiyoshi then, with the ribbons in his hands, started forming a combination of seals that was unfamiliar to Kakashi; even some of the seals themselves were unfamiliar. A strong gust of wind appeared; not coming from any windows or doors, as they were all closed. But the air in the room started spiraling all by itself; snatching the ribbons from Kiyoshi's hands, and making them dance in the eye of the small tornado.

Kakashi wasn't sure whether he should stop Kiyoshi before his room became a total mess, or to let the teen explain himself. He chose the latter. He looked at the two jet-black ribbons as they started circulating something that resembled an invisible human form.

"Kiyoshi... is that..?"

"Hikari," nodded Kiyoshi, "If you want to talk to her, I'm afraid you'll have to do it through me."

"It's fine," came a soft whisper, blowing the door in with the wind it traveled on. "Today's nice and windy, I can spare a little strength."

Kakashi stared at the two ribbons in total awe, "Wh..."

The sweet whisper started up again, making the draft pick up several light items, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Kiyoshi looked away from the ribbons back at Kakashi, and found the man's pale face quite amusing. "Are you alright?"

Kakashi was in a state of helplessness; he wasn't able to say a single word, he wasn't able to move, and he wasn't able to look away from the two dancing ribbons.

"Let me start you off," said Kiyoshi, "I... see..."

The wind lightened with joy, and soothed into a calm air movement. "I'm dead," said the voice again.

Kakashi's voice started up again, weakly working the sentence with one word at a time, "How... can... it... be..?"

Kiyoshi started to explain everything from beginning to end; making a good note of the unpleasant restrictions his relationship with Hikari had, along with the connections between them. He told of the several adventures he had with Hikari while they were away from Konoha. He told of the good people that died, the good people that lived, and the near-death experiences Kiyoshi himself had.

Kakashi sat and listened to the unbelievable stories, unable to grasp any of what was said to him; he felt like somebody with a camera would jump out of his closet and tell him that he'd fallen victim to a prank. A good three hours had passed, but Kakashi only got a vague picture of Kiyoshi and Hikari's situation.

Kakashi looked down at the floor; he didn't know the hardships he caused to Kiyoshi due to his mistrust of Hikari. "I'm sorry."

"About what?" asked Kiyoshi, not looking at the copy ninja, but up at his invisible girlfriend.

Kakashi got up and walked up to Hikari, "I'm sorry I didn't trust you. I made your lives this... this..." he couldn't find the word that would define their lives. Every word, 'unlivable, horrible, severed' would be absolutely untrue, yet at the same time he couldn't think of anything positive to say. 'Limited' was the only word that he could think of, but he knew very well just as they did, that their relationship was very limited from the very beginning.

"Our lives ended up as they did, and nothing could change that. We cannot forgive you," said Kiyoshi, "because there is nothing to forgive."

The wind started up again, playing with the curves of the room to create a musical representation of Hikari's voice, "You did what you had to do," she whispered, "But it's as Kiyoshi said, 'everything turned out for the better.'"

Kakashi didn't want to drop the conversation, but he didn't know what else to say. He saw Kiyoshi as heartbroken, and not even a reincarnated Hikari could wipe away his assumption.

The wind calmed down and the two ribbons settled in Kiyoshi's palm, "Let's get to business."

Kakashi looked at the boy for a moment, face frozen with an emotionless, blank look. The moment passed and he sighed, "Oi... you need to get your priorities straight."

"Later," replied Kiyoshi, "Right now we have to find out why the dogs are acting so violent around Naruto."

"Canine competition?" suggested Kakashi.

A/N: wow... it's been a while. To quote a friend of mine, "my homework load is the size of China, perhaps with Saudi Arabia added on to it," says it all.

I'm afraid I this post wasn't a turnaround in the progression of my fanfiction, I don't know when the next post will be; could be in three days, could be in three months, who knows. in the meanwhile, check out my music, I made a few new songs: "www . purevolume . c o m /aasilencer299" without the spaces or quotations.

I hope I get a good combination of free time and motive sometime soon.


	17. Interlude

**_INTERLUDE_**

Hey everyone, as I have already told you, I'm busy. Here's something I wrote up as Writer's Craft project. The assignment was to create a short-story, and I just felt like sharing it with you. Think of it as an interlude.

**_Cigarette_ **

By: Dmytro Lipchenko

Seven hours had passed since my appointment was due, and I am still sitting outside this worn-out sheet of metal of a door, waiting for the doctor to call me in. I have seventeen bruises, ten deep cuts, and I'm bleeding internally from at least two of my organs. Yet I'm not the sorriest of sobs waiting in line.

I always considered myself to be a faithful man, but when god throws this kind of crap at the world that he created, you can't help but doubt the guy. I've always wondered whether god was a guy or not, but now I'm sure of it.

Twenty or so years ago, I didn't think I would be sitting here, in the sorry shack of a hospital, in a puddle of my own blood, in contempt towards the man who has the power to save my life, but here I am.

A man walked out of the door, and an expression of relief seemed to define his face, but I can't really understand why he felt so relieved; with that broken arm he would be dead in a matter of hours anyways.

The man beside me started laughing in a gurgling voice, as if drowning in his own blood. Him and I were thinking of the same thing; why the hell are we here? I mean, not the cheesy question those damn philosophers keep asking themselves, trying to figure out the meaning behind life, but directed more literally; why are we in this hospital?

It's not a hospital, it's just some shop whose owner died, and was taken in by a doctor as a headquarters. But we all humor ourselves and call it a hospital.

The man with the busted right arm walked past me and into the broken up world outside the hospital. It makes no difference anymore; we all have the same fate, no matter how fit or healthy we are, we're all dead-meat, food.

I turned to the man beside me, the dying old man with a cigarette in his mouth, a bloody bandage around his head, and his right hand resting on the barrel of a shotgun. I have nothing better to do; I ask him how many he's had. My attention doesn't get drawn away from the beautiful smoke rising from his cigarette. It looks delicious.

He tries to answer me, but his lungs fail, thus so do his words. He gives off a satisfied smile as he coughs up some blood and lifts up three fingers.

Now I can't help but stare at him in astonishment. What a tough guy. To have three doses and still be himself isn't something any old man can do; most people, even the tough ones, lose their sanity after a single dose. Two doses, perhaps you still have some will and sanity to keep you human. But he's the only person I've met that's had three doses and still manages to put up a fight. What a tough guy.

The lights go out, and everyone falls to the floor out of reflex. The windows are boarded up, so we don't have to worry about anyone entering through them. But the door is no longer in its frame, and everyone points their guns and rifles at the entrance. Shadows rush past the door; it's night, but the fire outside still makes the creatures give off shadows. The rushing stopped, silence. Then a very quiet chatter. Most people have lost almost all hearing after the years of gunfire and explosions, but mine is still intact enough to hear them. I join the tips of my fingers and thumb together, and hold it up slightly to signal that I can hear the creatures talking; everyone knows the hand-sign, as well as various other tactical hand gestures set up by whatever is left of the human civilization. Everyone braced themselves.

The next moment came without warning, but as far as survivors go, even the wounded ones, reflex of the crowd was extraordinary. Every shot made by the old man beside me was out of pure instinct; the creatures move at a pace that's near impossible for a human eye to detect, but every time he pulled the trigger, another body flew at the wall and fell lifelessly to the ground. There are only a few seconds between the beginning and end of the raid, and those who survived are deemed worthy of their lives. But nobody truly wanted their life.

Humans have always stunned me; to develop from something so small and fragile like a baby into a supernatural killing machine. I guess it's not too surprising. I mean, the reason there is such a big gap between the baby and the adult, is because anybody weaker than those that are still human, are either not human anymore or dead. Still, I haven't seen a baby in years. A single human baby would restore all lost faith in humanity, but what are the chances of a pregnant woman surviving in a world gone this mad? In the end it's better that we don't have faith or a baby, then we won't have anything to lose.

I'm not sure how old I am, maybe seventeen, perhaps thirty. Even if I had a mirror I wouldn't be certain. The old man beside me is probably in his forties; very old considering the average age of death; twenty-four.

I still laugh at what people were thinking when they accepted the doses. A better world? Longer life? Ironic. Selfish.

I turn to the old man again, I'm thinking of asking him if he remembers the days when you didn't have to be a good shot in order to survive on Earth. I'm not too surprised by what I see.

The old man is slouched in his bloody chair. Eyes closed. Dead. The cigarette is sticking out of his satisfied smile. Judging by the ash build-up on his cigarette, he died just moments ago; when we were attacked. I looked over him, and didn't find any fresh wounds; he died of a heart attack. What a lucky bastard for dying a natural death. His cigarette is tempting, but I wouldn't dare touch the dead man's treat.

The doctor opens the door and points at the old man. After a moment of not receiving a reaction, his finger's point shifts from the old man to me. I don't hesitate; it's rare to find a doctor in today's world. Limping over to the man in an unclean white doctor's uniform, I have a last glance at the late and smiling old man. He did indeed feel lucky.

The doctor walks me into a room and sits me down on a chair that's less clean than those in the other room. He tells me to take off my shirt and stand up so that he can examine me; I comply accordingly.

After a series of quick examinations and automated motions, I have bandaging all over my body and some formula in a bottle that he instructs me to drink once every three hours. He tells me that I'll be recovered in two days and pushes me out the front door. I step out of his office and look at the strange vial of unclear liquid. The label reads various terms that I'm unfamiliar with, and wouldn't make much sense to me even if they were, as the bottle was reused several times and the current solution wasn't what the label read. But a few scribbles that the doctor had made on the label caused my heart to tingle with joy: forty percent alcohol.

I drink what I consider to be a couple of shots and put the rest of it in the inner pocket of my long coat. I rest my shotgun on my right shoulder and walk down the obliterated street with fading caution; alcohol works quickly on me.

Countless huge scraps of metal still lie all over the scarred and erupted asphalt; why wouldn't they? I decide to humor myself and imagine if I were the genius who figured out how to work these so-called cars. Then the people of the world would use that knowledge to their advantage and take the Earth back from the druggies. I'm too lost in my daydreaming to realize that I've walked into the wrong part of the neighborhood; the druggies part of the neighborhood. I grab on to the barrel of the shotgun with my left hand and start slowly backing away, shifting the sights from one ruined shop to another, expecting a druggie to jump out at any moment. I hear shuffling behind me and turn my head sideways to check if there's anything threatening moving behind me. I get a vague picture of three figures. I probably won't be able to get out of here, but I can take down at least one of them.

Every second takes a minute as I turn around. One of them has already lunged at me. I feel the presence coming up towards me; it's going to be the first thing I shoot.

I accidentally blink, but manage to shoot the thing head-on; not a single pellet from the shell missing its target.

A big shock wave comes from the barrel that lunged at me, and the barrel itself is torn to shards of metal from the combustion happening in the chemicals within. I get pierced throughout my body and fly a dozen meters back into the street. I'm dead.

The shotgun is lying in my severed hand few feet away from me. Smoke rising casually rising from the barrel. It looks delicious.

I wish I had one of the old man's cigarettes.


	18. Chapter 17 Shadows

Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait. Truth be told, I completed this chapter about one and a half weeks ago, but my microsoft word developped an attitude and now hates me because I didn't give it a cookie or something. What I'm getting at, is that I couldn't use the spell-check function, so I was going to do it when I got around to reinstalling word. I reinstalled it, and it's still giving me attitude. So "Fck it!" I exclaimed, and decided to give you guys the original .txt file instead. I hope you guys enjoy it. I'm already halfway through the next chapter, but can't give any guarantees that I'll post it up next week.

Chapter 17

"Any leads?"

Kiyoshi took a moment to think, "We know that that only dogs that went astray have the hatred towards Naruto."

"That gives us nothing but reason to hold a stake-out. What else?"

Kiyoshi shrugged, "Nothing else. They travel in packs."

Kakashi didn't want to bother Pakkun without anything to give him. "Let's go find the dog that's bitten Naruto last."

"We caught one this morning. A little puppy that got lost," suggested Kiyoshi.

"Perfect, that'll save us time. Where is it?"

"The owner has probably already come to pick it up. Let's go the address."

Kakashi followed Kiyoshi out the front door. "You look much better than the last time I saw you on that ship," said Kakashi.

Kiyoshi smiled, "Don't tell me you haven't noticed?"

Kakashi looked a bit more closely at Kiyoshi's face and then retracted without any sign of surprise, "That's a nice cover-job."

"Thanks. You wouldn't have recognize me if I hadn't kept it on."

The man looked up at the clouds as they walked down the street, "Your life is just one big fancy tea-party, isn't it?"

Kiyoshi nodded, "Yeah, I'm tired of making patch-jobs. I think it'll be time to retire soon."

Kakashi's smile vanished, and he looked back down at the teen. "What are you talking about?"

Kiyoshi grinned, "I'm gonna quit being a ninja. I want a peaceful job doing something where nobody could get hurt."

"There is no such job. Every job has its hazards. I knew a plumber who had to get his arm amputated because it got stuck in the toilet. There was also a painter that fell off a tree trying to paint a landscape; he broke seven ribs, right arm, and left leg. There is no job that's absolutely safe."

Kiyoshi grinned, "I'm thinking of becoming a writer."

Kakashi started considering all kinds of mutilations that profession could give him, but kept them all to himself. "Where's our puppy?"

"Should be just around that corner," replied Kiyoshi, and made the turn. What he saw froze him; it was the fanciest house he'd ever seen. Although he imagined the blueprints wouldn't be too different from those of his house, and the size was just about the same, the way it looked was astonishing and breath-taking, as if it were a mansion.

The front lawn had various statues made out of all kinds of simple tools, accessories, and house-ware. There was a large webbing sticking into many points throughout the lawn, expanding, multiplying and connecting into the house. It looked like a maze, like a forest of warped bamboo. The windows of the house were made out of multiple types of glass, and warped together with bottle-caps, CD's and several other eye-pleasing rubbish.

"Well," said Kiyoshi, staring at the big piece of art that was a house, "You don't see this every day."

"We could..." Suggested Kakashi, "It's just that the owner isn't too fond of strangers."

"You know him?"

"Her," Corrected Kakashi, "It's an old lady that never leaves this house. She is from a former elite ANBU unit that got disbanded soon after the nine-tailed fox's reign of terror.

"Why?"

"Who knows," shrugged Kakashi, "I was too young back then to know anything about it." He continued, "It was too deeply undercover back then for anyone to notice. I'm still not quite sure what the unit's purpose was, but I'll tell you this much," He looked up at the house, "You won't find anything that refers to it in any texts we have today. Everything has been burned."

Kiyoshi got confused, then shook his head, "Then how do you know about the unit's existance?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that."

The boy stared at Kakashi for a moment, then looked back at the house. There was a shadow behind one of the warped windows, it fled back into the house's dark insides when Kiyoshi's eyes met with it.

"Alright, let's go ask her," Said Kakashi and stepped into the webbing surrounding the front lawn.

Kakashi made a strange combination of motions and repeated the cycle several times, slowly getting closer and closer to the house.

Kiyoshi couldn't figure it out, he watched Kakashi's feet entangle around eachother, often changing the direction of where he was going. But slowly and surely, Kakashi was getting closer to the house.

Then he realized, "Traps..." There were numerous hidden traps all over the lawn. He soon realized that the word 'Numerous' was an understatement; there were countless traps of all elements and severities hidden so closely that even an experienced eye wouldn't make out.

A sweat drop rolled down Kiyoshi's spine; he started wondering how he was going to cross the mine-field.

Kakashi had already reached the door and was waving back at Kiyoshi to come. Kiyoshi squatted down and looked at the field from a different perspective. He then smiled and dashed forward with enough force to keep him airborne until he reached the other side. He unsheathed his kodachis and used them as leverage by stabbing the ground whilst in mid-air.

He landed on his fingertips and spun around onto his feet before getting up and sheathing his blades. He then dusted himself off and hooled up at Kakashi to find the man slightly impressed.

"Not bad, good enough for the ANBU. But you forgot the chakra-hidden traps."

Kiyoshi looked back at the field to find that one of the traps had been set off. Fortunately it was a slow trap and went off too late to catch him or push him off-balance.

"No biggie, I forgot about the light-traps," smiled Kakashi, pointing at a spot on the field, which he had passed when he crossed over. "I had to neutralize it when I stepped into it."

Kiyoshi smiled. The trap reminded him of Hikari's concealment technique. "Nobody's perfect."

"I see you're having fun with my traps," said an old lady. Neither of the men heard her coming, but she was there never the less. "Kakashi-kun, I haven't seen you in ages!" The woman had snow-white hair that went past her shoulders, her face was slightly wrinkled, and she was wearing dark purple robes.

"It shows," smiled Kakashi, "How've you been? Roku-sama?"

Kiyoshi looked at the happy old lady and turned back to Kakashi, "I thought you said she doesn't like visitors."

"That's not what I said, I said she doesn't like strangers."

"So..." said Kiyoshi, cautiously turning back to the old lady. Judging by the traps and professional sneaking, she wasn't an old lady to be taken lightly, and he was half-expecting her to make him dead in one way or another.

To his surprise, she was grinning so hard that her eyes were closed. "I'm known as Roku, feel free to call me that."

Kiyoshi's tension eased and he sighed with relief. "I'm Kiyoshi, pleased to meet you."

Roku still felt some caution coming from Kiyoshi, "Don't worry, I won't do anything to you."

"Stranger..."

"Anyone who crossed my field and still resembles the form of a human being is no stranger to me," She explained and grinned, "You still look pretty human to me."

"Alright," replied Kiyoshi.

Kakashi stepped in, "I'm afraid we're here on business, Roku."

"Oh, sure come in, I'll make some tea."

This behavior amused Kiyoshi. He turned to Kakashi and said, "I think she just ignored you outright."

The two men followed her into the fashionably radiant house.

Sipping the aromatic peach tea, Kiyoshi had nearly forgotten the reason why he was there. He started making small-talk, "So..." he said, "Why do they call you Roku?"

Roku lowered her head, "That was my number in the assembly line of madness."

Kiyoshi realized that he his a nerve with his question, "If it's a bother, you don't have to say anything."

"No, it's alright," replied Roku.

"Roku-sama," interrupted Kakashi, "Don't go there."

The woman hesitated for a moment and looked over her shoulder. She sighed deeply; the aura of cheer that she had recently given off had dispersed, and replaced with the aura of pain and sadness. "Kakashi-kun..." she said, "It's hard..."

"I know," agreed Kakashi, "A ninja's life is never easy. But for your own sake, keep it in."

Kiyoshi desparately wanted to know what was going on, but kept his curiosity to himself, as the subject was a delicate one, in both; heart and duty. "We're here to talk to you about your puppy."

The woman sheered up, "Cute, ain't he?"

"Yeah, the little devil is trained in professional evasion! It took a team of three experienced shinobi over five hours to catch him!"

The woman started laughing, "What'd you expect? How would've he escaped my traps if he wasn't experienced in caution?"

Kiyoshi gave off a light chuckle, "He is cute though..."

"So what do you want to know?"

Kakashi stood up and started stretching, "Did you notice anything strange about Giggles when you got him back?"

Kiyoshi burst out in a rave of uncontrollable laughter, "You named that puppy 'Giggles'?"

Roku grinned, "Good name, ain't it?"

Kakashi interrupted again, "So was there anything out of place?"

The woman folded her arms, "Out of place?" she asked, "Yeah, there was something out of place with Giggles alright! Some punk had brainwashed him into rage! It took me a while to set the poor thing's mind back in order!"

Kiyoshi smiled, "Now we're getting somewhere," he turned to Kakashi, "Can you get Pakkun to talk to the puppy?"

"Why are you asking me? Ask Pakkun once I've sommoned him."

Roku shook her head, "Oh no, you're not summoning indoors! You may interrogate Giggles, but keep the summoning outdoors!"

"Very well, agreed Kakashi."

"Before we go," said Kiyoshi before getting up, "Who was watching us from the second floor when we came here?"

Roku tried to hide her flinch, yet it was still evident. "That was me," she eventually replied.

Kiyoshi knew quite well that it wasn't her, but left the conversation for another time. "Let's get your puppy," He then turned to Kakashi, "Go get Pakkun, and we'll meet you out back."

Kakashi nodded and went out to the back yard. The usual routine of hand motions and a palm thrust into the ground summoned Pakkun. "Hey, Pakkun."

Pakkun yawned and looked up at Kakashi, surprisingly displeased, "You woke me up..."

"Sorry, I need you to help us out."


	19. Chapter 18 Rationalization

Chapter 18 

Kiyoshi came downstairs with Giggles hanging from his hands, infatuated by the puppy's eyes to the point of stupidity. Kakashi and Pakkun were patiently waiting for the insincerely late boy to stop petting the puppy before doing the deed.

"Can you ask him where he was when the incident started?" asked Kakashi.

"Who said it's a 'he'?" asked everyone simultaniously.

Kakashi took the awkwardness of the situation out by rubbing the back of his own head, "Hai, hai, my mistake. you have my apologies," he said to the puppy.

"Arf!" The little creature happily exclaimed.

"Apology accepted," translated Pakkun.

Several barks followed, frequently interrupted by long gaps of silence. "Grarf!"

"She said somebody was calling out to her," explained Pakkun, "She was at home when it happened, there were loud yells all over Konoha for the past few weeks, I always ignored them, but that time I decided to check it out."

Kiyoshi turned to Kakashi. He hadn't heard anything, but he wasn't around for too long, and perhaps Kakashi knew something about this phenomenon. "Did you hear any yells?"

Kakashi shook his head, "No, there was nothing. Perhaps somebody had been working a genjutsu?"

Roku shook her head, "Impossible. I was home all the time and would've sensed it. And besides, who would spend several weeks targeting Giggles?" she smirked, "Giggles isn't the only one to have attacked your new Hokage."

Kiyoshi over at her in shock, "How did you know?"

"It was my job to know back in the day. I still have habits of watching the village and the happenings of life. You have no idea how much information people hold without knowing it. Pieces of information put together always reveal something very valuable."

Kakashi smiled; he wasn't surprised. He decided to resume the task "So how is it that Giggles can hear these yells and we can't?"

Kiyoshi thought about it for a moment, "Let's figure it out after we hear the full story. There might be clues."

Another series of low grumbles and barks came from the puppy. Pakkun looked up at Kiyoshi and Kakashi, "She says she can't remember anything after ten minutes of following the yells..."

"Arf!" Interrupted Giggles.

Pakkun resumed, "She said she could only remember scratches on a wooden floor and very strong scents of dog blood and that blond kid's odor."

"Just as I thought," said Kiyoshi, "Somebody is trying brainwashing dogs into hating Naruto."

Kakashi sighed and shot an elastic band at the blond boy. "You didn't need me to come along. You can do this on your own..."

"You're right," agreed Kiyoshi, "I didn't need you. But I did need Pakkun." Kiyoshi turned to the chubby dog and said, "Thanks for helping us, Pakkun."

"Oi, no problem!" Pakkun replied, "But next time will cost you a limb."

"Seriously?"

"No, but a doggie treat would be nice,"

Kiyoshi turned to Roku, "Thanks for the tea."

"Ah, no problem, kiddo," smiled the old woman.

Kakashi and Kiyoshi walked out and went through the obstacle course once again before reaching the street and stopping.

"What do you think?" asked Kakashi.

Kiyoshi yawned and rubbed his eyes, "Well, we know that whoever the culprit is, he or she is within a ten minute walk's radius around this house. We also now that the floor is scratched up. And finally, we know that he has a way of calling out to dogs and only dogs."

Kakashi smiled, "That visit was very informative. What do you want to do now?"

"Well," said Kiyoshi, "We could start searching, we could start listing suspects, we could look for a method to talk to dogs without anyone else knowing it, or we could find a dog, wait for the yell to happen again and have it lead us to our culprit."

"That's a no-brainer," said Kakashi, "Let's find ourselves a stray dog."

Kiyoshi smiled, "But that's too easy. We have plenty of clues to go by without having to do a stakeout."

"You seem to be having fun," suggested Kakashi.

Kiyoshi looked at the sky, "I wonder..."

"So what are you going to do?"

Kiyoshi thought about it, rubbing his own chin, "I need a shave," he thought. He then looked up at Kakashi, "I got a great idea."

"Want to share?"

"Well, I've already figured this whole out, and you probably already had it figured out a while back."

Kakashi shrugged, "So What?"

"Let's give Naruto a crack at this case. Because if we consider the culprit's intent, Naruto is much more suited for busting him open."

"It's up to you," shrugged Kakashi, "I don't really understand the intent."

"Neither do I," agreed Kiyoshi, "I can only guess, but to me it looks as though there could only be one intent." He paused, "Then again, I don't know this village all that much."

Kakashi turned to walk away, "Whatever the case may be, Naruto is the target of the culprit, therefore he's involved. If you're going to leave it to Naruto, be there to back him up if things get out of hand."

"That goes without say," agreed Kiyoshi, "But it seems you don't know Naruto's power yet."

"I do," Kakashi corrected him, "I think it's you that's underestimating the fox."

"What do you mean?"

Kakashi stopped walking away and turned to Kiyoshi, "The nine-tails is a crafty creature. The ichibi has a funky personality, and the nibi has its arrogance, in the same way the nine-tails's personality is that of a clever fox."

"Are you suggesting that Naruto doesn't have it under control?"

Kakashi looked up, "I wonder..."

Kiyoshi took some exercise out of jumping from roof-top to roof-top of Konoha's houses on his way to visit Naruto. It had been a long and boring week, but Saturday was coming up, and he would have some rest from his usual lazy naps; sneaking out of Konoha was much simpler during the weekends.

"Shit!" He remembered, "Naruto's birthday is coming up!"

For the rest of the roof-tops Kiyoshi didn't contemplate his weekend training session, but tried to come up with a gift of Naruto's liking. "Need to consult Hinata," He concluded.

Naruto had finished a fresh pile of paper-like crap that was so uncomfortably piled all over his desk several hours beforehand. He was now sipping some peach-aroma'd tea that Hinata had given him.

Kiyoshi walked in the office to find his whiskered friend's wide grin kissing the rim of the tea-cup. "I got some information for you."

Naruto looked up, "But you didn't solve the case?"

"I thought you might want to do it."

Naruto paused for a moment, "Why'd you think that?"

"Would you not?"

Naruto paused for another moment, "Eh, sure. I'm done here for now anyways."

Kiyoshi pulled up a chair, "Alright. I found out that dogs are being brainwashed into hating you. Another dog told me..."

"Whoa!" interrupted Naruto, "You speak dog?"

Kiyoshi froze, "Don't be stupid."

"Hai. I'll just assume that Pakkun translated for you."

Kiyoshi shook off the ironic truth and continued with the information. "The dog told me that there were scents of dog blood, your scent, and there was also a scratched up floor."

"But how can someone brainwash dogs with just that? What'd they do? Walk around kidnapping puppies?"

"He's getting smart," thought Kiyoshi. "You're absolutely correct. There's no way anyone could do something like that without somehow attracting the dogs. According to the puppy that I interviewed, somebody was yelling out to it from across Konoha."

"Nobody yells around here, it's been very quiet and peaceful lately."

"That much I figured," said Kiyoshi. "I also have an area, within which the one that's responsible operates."

Without hesitation, Naruto replied, "Nah, he wouldn't be there. He wouldn't brainwash dogs using blood in the same place where he lives."

"Nice rationalization," agreed Kiyoshi, "But how do you know it's a guy?"

Naruto grinned, "Kiba's a guy last time I checked."

A/N: Well, sorry for another wait. And sorry for this chapter being half-assed (needed to set up the story for what comes next). And sorry for the attitude my Microsoft Word is giving me (spelling mistakes may still occur). And sorry for being sorry so much.

Merry christmas to those who celebrate it, and happy whatever it is you celebrate, because I'm too stupid and ignorant to know anything else.


	20. Chapter 19 Compromised Part 1

Chapter 19 

"Kiba? How can you be so sure?" asked Kiyoshi. He put on an expression of confusion and doubt at the word 'Kiba', but Naruto held his ground and kept his speculations aimed at the fellow canine master.

"For one thing, it has to be a shinobi, because the scratched floors are a sign of training, and that excludes most of Konoha's population."

"Alright," agreed Kiyoshi, "Why Kiba?"

"Well," said Naruto, "The way I see it, every technique in existance has its own prerequisites. Many require advanced chakra control, others elemental control, there are more types of control springing up every day. There's elemental mixing, magnetic, sound, and now you even found the entity of spiritual techniques."

"In simple terms, yeah," Confirmed Kiyoshi, "There's more to it though."

"I know," said Naruto, hand motioning Kiyoshi to shut up. "What we're dealing with is a sound technique. But it's even simpler than that."

Kiyoshi folded his arms, "Much simpler."

"There's a certain frequency which only dogs are able to hear that humans like us can't. Through that frequency it's possible to send out something that sort of sounds like a yell to the inexperienced ear."

"Alright, what's Kiba have to do with this? Many people know how to use sound techniques."

Naruto grinned at the fact that he knows something that Kiyoshi doesn't. "Not true," he replied, "Perhaps some very advanced shinobi, like Kakashi-sensei or an ANBU member have basic knowledge, but none of the ANBU members know me, and Kakashi is a close friend."

Kiyoshi shrugged, "So what?"

Naruto stood up, set down his tea cup, stretched his back out, and walked over to a filing cabinet. "On my records," said Naruto, pulling out a batch of documents, "I have listed only two groups that have fair knowledge of sound techniques."

"Groups?" asked Kiyoshi.

"Yes. Each family and clan is considered a group, because although their key techniques and styles differ, each member usually practices the same style as their parents and former generations."

"So what are the two families?"

"Both of them use the sound techniques to make it easier to work with animals," replied Naruto, "There's Shino's clan. They use minimal sound techniques to be able to communicate with the little buzzing things. But he wasn't in Konoha when this whole thing started."

"So you really think it's Kiba?"

Naruto was about to open his mouth again, but then paused and looked over to Kiyoshi, who was amused by Naruto's arrogant display of deduction. "You were just messing with me, weren't you? You already know all of this."

"Another case solved," clapped Kiyoshi, then started laughing.

"Tch." Naruto turned away, and looked out the window at the village that was now in his hands. "You know..." he said, "I can't do this. I'm not ready to be Hokage yet."

Kiyoshi stood up and walked over to the window to join Naruto's side. Looking out the window, he spoke, "Have you ever though what a Hokage is?"

Naruto loked up at Kiyoshi from his seat, then burst out with a stream of words, "A Hokage is the strongest ninja of the..."

"Stop quoting the textbooks and think about it," interrupted Kiyoshi, "Not everything in the textbooks is correct."

Naruto froze and kept his eyes on the blond boy for a moment. He then looked down at his table, and turned to watch over the village from his window once more.

Hinata's dream was a strange one. There was a dock, Naruto was sitting on it, watching the lake reflect the forest across from him. She came up to Naruto but did not speak, there was a silence, they didn't look at each other. Just watched the reflected trees in the water.

To follow a path is to blindly follow a belief. Billions of people have drowned in the abyss where their path had led them, to never come back up and to never choose another path. What is the true path to follow? What is it that we are truly meant to do?

She awoke like she had never done before. The awakening was as smooth as a hawk gliding through the air. Such calm she had never experienced, and the feeling she felt was that of someone's soft chakra, much like the moment she felt back on the ship during the summer's mission.

"Naruto..."

She opened her eyes and remained still for what felt like an eternity, but it was no more than two minutes. "If I could freeze time, it would not matter. Because he would not be there frozen with me."

"Therefore cherish each moment you have with him," replied a familiar voice, too familiar to be true.

Hinata turned her head, but there was nobody there.

Naruto and Kiyoshi walked down a path that was too familiar to Naruto, but then again, they all were.

"It's just that I'm not dealing with nearly as much as Tsunade had to put up with," said Naruto, "The senate doesn't trust me, and my access is very limited to the files on Konoha's insides."

"I don't know, it looked like you were in charge in that office..." suggested Kiyoshi.

Naruto shook his head, "I'm just a secretary right now, everything serious is in their hands," replied Naruto, "The Akatsuki missions, Sasuke's retrieval, even ANBU affairs are all under the senate's direct control."

Kiyoshi gave off a deep sigh, "But you are able to handle the work you currently have, right?"

"Yeah! But..." Naruto drifted into thought, quietly speaking the words "I can do so much more..."

Kiyoshi punched Naruto in the shoulder, and grinned. "Look on the bright side, if you can do more for Konoha, then you clearly have the time! And if you have the time, you can use it to study or train!"

Naruto discarded the punch and thought about what was said, "I guess you're right. I'm not a full pledged Hokage yet, so I shouldn't be too surprised about the secrecy."

Kiyoshi's grin faded into a smile, but a cheerful smile never the less. "Have you thought about what a Hokage is?"

Naruto didn't answer. He was sure he knew the answer, but it wouldn't come out into words. 'Something dependable' was the best he could describe the title of Hokage as, but he knew well enough that it wouldn't suffice as an answer to Kiyoshi's question.

"No," lied Naruto, "I haven't."

"Don't worry," said Kiyoshi, "You still have time."

"There's Kiba's house," said Naruto, there was a chill in his voice and in the air.

It was cool, and somehow dark even though the sun was shining from the cloudless sky. Physically it was bright and sunny, but the feeling was too grim to accompany the light.

Kiyoshi froze, took a sharp look around in the street where he was sure somebody was standing. His eyes found nothing, nobody was in the street to blame his disturbance on. "Naruto, we may be in trouble..."

"I feel it too," said Naruto, slowly shifting his eyes from one direction to another, "I think we're being watched."

"Yes," agreed Kiyoshi, "We are."

Then the feeling lifted, comfort once again flowed through the nerves of the two teens.

Naruto glanced over to Kiyoshi. Kiyoshi nodded. They went on towards Kiba's house.

Naruto stepped up to the door, but before he could knock on it, it burst open and out came Kiba on Akamaru. The door sent Naruto flying into Kiyoshi and both of them tumbled several times before getting their senses back and catching their own footing.

Kiba and Akamaru took a sharp turn around a corner and galloped away from the two blond boys.

"Get them!" exclaimed Naruto and dashed after them.

Kiyoshi got up and dusted himself off before turning around and not findng Naruto anywhere in sight. "Yeah..."

"Kiba!" Yelled Naruto.

"Never!" replied the canine runaway.

Kiyoshi left the chasing to Naruto and entered Kiba's house after knocking on the door. When he entered and called out to see if anyone would respond, the response he got was the same as when he knocked on the door; none.

He froze when he felt a chill come down his right shoulder, much like the one he felt moments before being projected down the street moments before. He sprung to the left, slid across the floor and activated his blood limit. "Hikari, time to have some fun."

Naruto took his chance to make a clone when Kiba made a sharp turn around a corner so that the technique wouldn't be seen. The clone made a sharp turn around the corner and kept chasing Kiba, while the real Naruto took a shortcut over the roofs to cut Kiba off further down the road.

Kiba took the chase rather negatively, feeling like a buffalo being chased by an underdressed species of monkey weilding a sharp branch and weighing a mere 200 pounds. For a moment he woke up from a dream of confusion that he'd been dreaming for the past several weeks, and felt a strong temptation to stop and confront Naruto. But before he could make any action of such sort, he was once again thrown into a world of dull and angry insomnia.

Akamaru barked in time for Kiba to duck under an incoming projectile kunai, but got tossed aside when a tag exploded. He assumed that the explosive tag was attached to the kunai and brushed that realization off to keep his concentration on catching his footing and making a good comeback to the overused sticky-bomb.

Naruto and his clone blocked both sides of the road to keep Kiba and Akamaru from escaping.

Kiba took an brief moment to sulk over something, then started thinking over the next plan of action. He could've either attempted to escape using the roofs, but knew that Naruto probably had more clones lurking about, and climbing a 90 degree angle was not a good way of not getting shot. Or he could have stopped his running and started combat with the man who assumingly ruined his life.

He took the second choice, which was his intention to do from the very beginning, but any earlier he'd be outnumbered and outclassed by an unknown enemy that was now Naruto's right-hand man. He wasn't really sure whether he felt betrayed, heartbroken, or humiliated, but he knew that he wanted to do very unpleasant things to Naruto involving pitchforks, broken glass, and other pointy objects.

At the same time Kiba's house contained a spectacular light-show that only Kiyoshi could see, and was also the only physical contestant of. He dashed out of the way of an incoming black free-form shape, making a turn as he slid across the room. He pulled out a set of headphones and his favorite music to mark the occasion of a fight that only he could be a part of.

The free-form shape attempted a strike at Kiyoshi by stretching out like the bubble in a lavalamp, but Kiyoshi evaded by turning his body upside down and clenching the extended blob between his legs. Then, while in handstand, he spun around with enough force to break a bone if it were clenched between his legs. Instead, the blob only shook amusingly, as if laughing at his failed attempt.

Kiyoshi didn't stop spinning around. He saw different kinds of souls and spirits, and from what he kew, the tentacle would either stop stretching and fling the creature at a wall, or the tentacle would rip off.

Neither of Kiyoshi's theories passed as facts. The creature's wrapped tentacle melted and molded itself atound Kiyoshi's ankles, then flung him at a wall.

Kiyoshi fell to the ground after the impact with the wall, and landed on one knee, keeping his attention focused on the enemy while wiping the blood off his lower lip.

Hikari was tastefully sending projectile black blobs into directions other than Kiyoshi's or her own. While Kiyoshi stepped in and out of combat, Hikari was deflecting enough attacks to keep several dozen squids occupied. She moved at speeds that would burn up a body in its physical form, thus such speeds can't be picked up upon with a normal human eye or be comprihensible in the physical world. If not for Kiyoshi's blood limit ability, she would have no human witness to see her striking velocity.

The creature showed nothing less than Hikari when it came to velocity, because the rapid flow of circling attacks didn't falter for a mere second.

In no time at all both, Kiyoshi and Hikari got tired out to the point of tenderness. As they'd long ago realized, the measure of a soul does not work in capacity, but in the emotions that they carry. For example, a soul that feels love is powerful, but can be stacked with other emotions such as hope or the rush of battle. Negatve emotions such as guilt or hate can be contradictory to those of love, but it's more a matter of intention than classifying emotions as good and evil. Some emotions like hate can be considered noble in the form of vengence, but whether a vengeful obligation is a virtue or not is a matter of interpretation, so any sin can be stacked with a positive feeling.

"Hikari," panted Kiyoshi. "We need to do something. Fighting this thing head-on is pointless."

Hikari didn't pant, as she no longer depended on breathing to survive. "What can we do?"

Kiyoshi stood up, closed his eyes, then moments later he opened them and his breathing was no longer heavy. "Remember the hellgate we opened for the thing that followed me around?"

Hikari's saturated violet outline gave Kiyoshi a nod. "What about it? We can't use it while you're physical?"

"But what if I really wanted to?" asked Kiyoshi, totally oblivious to the fact that his question would be considered silly to any other human.

On the contrary, Hikari found the suggestion a very reasonable. Most people don't realize, but whatever the battle may be, be it physical or spiritual, the side with the stronger will usually wins.

"Alright, let's give it a shot. But Kiyoshi," she said, "If this works, then killing you back then would have been pointless."

Kiyoshi grinned like a cat would if cats could grin, "No regrets there, you shouldn't have any either."

Naruto dashed out of the way of an incoming storm of sharp fur and landed sideways on a wall. He pulled a kunai out of his sleeve and shot out of the way of another incoming attack.

"Hey kid," said a voice that Naruto hadn't heard speak for a long time. "I'm bored, how about letting me come out and stretch my legs for a bit?"

A/N: I decided that this should be a two-part chapter, and this was the first part of it. Some questions may arise, theories are quite welcome, but I won't give any definite answers until they show up in the story. Same technical difficulties as the several chapters before; no spell-check.

There have been inquiries as to whether or not I'm a "Kiba hater", and I would like to reassure you that I am not. If I were a Kiba hater I wouldn't have made him lead guitar during the dance in one of the earlier chapters. However, I am quite interested in a Kiba-related theme/idea which will be uncovered in the next part of this chapter.

On a totally unrelated note, I finished my music album called "Echo" and most of it is available in my facebook profile. You can either hear 4 of the songs by going to my homepage (a link to a purevolume account), or adding me on facebook by the name of Dmytro Lipchenko.

Well, until next time. I hope you all enjoyed my crappy fanfic and hope you come back because you did.


	21. Chapter 19 Compromised Part 2

note: when you see three spaces between paragraphs, that is a sign of a transition between scenes (as opposed to the double-spacing between the normal paragraphs of the same scene). This was inspired by the bitching I received from readers in a forum.

Chapter 19 - Part 2

"What?" Asked Naruto. "Bug off, this isn't the time for your silly antics."

The voice kept nagging him, "But it's not like I'm gonna do anything."

Naruto was growing weary of the deep voice, and it was starting to distract him from his fight with Kiba. "I said no, and go away."

"Come on, I need to move around a bit."

Naruto just barely managed to keep his throat from being sliced off and impaled to a wall five meters away. He was getting annoyed. He had just realized that he wouldn't have this problem if he had a split mind like Kiyoshi's.

His realization didn't improve his situation much, because Kiba was still shooting pointy objects at him, and the voice was still distracting him from properly evading those pointy objects.

"I said go away!" Naruto accidentally exclaimed out loud.

Kiba stopped throwing his constant stream of needle-like fur and froze in a mid-throw.

Moments passed and nothing happened. The two teens just stared at each other until Naruto accidentally grinned and said "heh," which resulted in Kiba resuming the assault of dog-fur.

The deep voice wouldn't leave the boy alone, "Come on," it said, "I'm claustrophobic."

"No you're not! You've been living inside me for almost eighteen years!" replied Naruto, which made him realize, with no consequence to the situation, that his birthday was coming up.

"The walls are closing in on me..." whined the voice.

"No they're not!" replied Naruto and jumped out of the way of Akamaru's snapping jaw.

Naruto tumbled across the ground and into a wall. He sat up against it and gave off a deep sigh. He looked up at the clouds and knew what Shikamaru felt like.

Kiyoshi's arms were no longer operational. They limply hung, yet still clenched his two blades like the jaws of a guard dog clenching the mailman's sorry ass.

He just barely managed to fling himself backwards to get out of the way of the blob's shape-shifting attack. It has occured to him, that his enemy was way out of his league. He flew into a wall and fell to the ground, knocking out whatever little breath remained. He coughed, then looked up.

The morphing monstrosity had stopped attacking him, and was now only assaulting Hikari. Kiyoshi was very sure that the thing was still as focused on him as it was on his dead girlfriend.

Until that point Kiyoshi hadn't felt fear towards the opponent, but when it morphed into the form of a beast that he had encountered on several occasions, his gut wrenched enough to make a normal man vomit.

He stared at the slick reptilian body in horror, as the blob was molding into the monster that he had only met in his nightmares and verges of death.

"What are you doing here?" asked the boy in a hushed voice.

If the multi-fanged reptile could smile, it was now smiling at Kiyoshi. "Time's up, Kiddo," It hissed.

Kiyoshi was panic-stricken, "What time? Time for what?"

"We're coming for you, 'Kiyoshi'"

"What are you?"

The beast looked amused, "I'm one who they call Zaiaku."

Kiyoshi started to slowly stand up, "Who calls you that? And why are you here?"

"I'm nothing more than a messenger," replied the spirit.

"Zaiaku? As in Sin?"

A crazed giggle could be heard coming through the hiss. This made Kiyoshi feel a shivering sensation whose only match could be some crazy combination of a jack-hammer and a washing machine that runs on jet fuel.

"Sharp one, you are." The beast looked in Hikari's direction, then back to Kiyoshi, "So this is the crazy broad that's been keeping you alive?"

Kiyoshi snapped out of whatever world it was that had been holding him back, and made a move that sent the creature flying through the wall. Luckily the creature was just a spirit without any physical form, so Kiyoshi wouldn't have to pay for the damages that the wall could've suffered.

Unluckily, two-thirds of a moment later he burst his way through the wall, fulfilling the wall's full potential of being a pile of rubble. He rushed after the black lizard, having nothing in mind other than to unclog the invisible scaly clogs from the beasts hide.

The creature made a one-eighty degree turn whilst skidding across the road on all fours. Kiyoshi dashed at it, blindly flying into the enemy's defense and attempted counter-attack.

The beast's tongue darted out and pierced through Kiyoshi's shoulder when he was just several feet away. The tongue hooked around the shoulder-blade and started pulling the kid into a sharp row of teeth.

Kiyoshi kicked off the ground and flew over the beast, using the tongue as a means of swinging around onto the back.

He ripped the tongue out, breaking his shoulder in the process, and wrapped the sticky muscle around the beast's neck. The beast twisted and crashed into a wall to try and knock Kiyoshi off its back. Failing to do so resulted in a screech.

Hikari appeared on the ground beside the two figures and started making seals, some of which were not the traditional Japanese symbols. Her wrist region started glowing and the ground started to flash with lightning, ripping the footwork apart and making cracks in the road. Before long the cracks were wide enough for anyone to stick a head in, for whatever reason they wished to stick their head into a fissure.

The cracks in the ground widened, eventually the ground in between the cracks fell and left a big dark hole that led nowhere.

"I'm done, it's your turn, Kiyoshi."

"Take over for me," Said Kiyoshi, keeping his grip tight around the reptile's spined neck.

Naruto spun around and mad a backward roundhouse kick. This move was what it took to finally knock Kiba off his fanged stallion.

In that comfortable moment when Naruto had to go under Akamaru's counter-attack, the Kyubi started to once again bother Naruto.

"Come on..." whined the fox, "Let's be friends."

Naruto's concentration broke and Akamaru managed to wrap his fangs around the boy's right upper arm. Naruto flinched.

"Sorry," apologized the nine-tails, "I hate to say it, but I told you so."

Naruto stuck an explosive tag into Akamaru's mouth using his left hand, and headbutted his nose to lessen the jaw's grip enough to slide out and jump away.

Kiba shot a kunai at Akamaru. The kunai flew through the gaps in the teeth, caught the tag and flew out the other side of the jaw moments before the explosion took place.

Kiba then jumped onto Akamaru's back, returning the situation back to the way it had originally started out. The only difference was that Naruto was now injured.

Naruto tied a piece of black cloth around the wound to stop the blood flow. He wondered why he had the cloth in his pocket, but didn't dwell on it. He had more important tasks at hand.

"It's all your fault!" exclaimed Kiba.

This surprised Naruto. He changed his wondering from the cloth to Kiba's comment. "What's my fault? All I wanted was to talk to you about something and you start running away."

"Don't give me that crap! You would try to kill me when my back would be turned!"

Naruto was now wondering about the last time he was so confused about anything. "What are you talking about?"

"It's not fair," said Kiba in a voice that would send chills down a snake's spine. "You didn't notice her at all. I was the one who had to keep her together. I was on her team, I was the closer friend."

"H...H...Hinata? You're talking about Hinata?" The blond boy found himself paralyzed. "Kiba... I didn't..."

Kiba burst out, "You didn't what? Do you have any idea what this feeling is like?"

Naruto felt sick at this point. He needed time to formulate a proper response to give to Kiba. However there was no time to think, because Kiba had once again started attacking.

Hikari was struggling to keep the beast occupied while Kiyoshi was working on his portion of the jutsu.

Kiyoshi took off his gloves and cracked his fingers before pulling out a hair from his head, placing it on his palm, then slamming it into the ground beside the fissure. Then, before the dust could settle, he rushed through countless hand-seals that would look very nice in the dark and holding onto a couple of glowsticks.

He held out his middle and index fingers of his left hand in front of his face and started mumbling something obscenely fast and senseless. His right hand was feeling the ground around him, as if searching for something.

He sharply opened his eyes and slammed both hands into the ground where his right hand had at last stopped.

A hot air current started flowing from the fissure, and was soon starting to illuminate a bright orange from something that was deep down inside.

The beast had thrown Hikari off, and was holding her by the neck. The sharp claws were digging in.

"Get away from her!" exclaimed Kiyoshi, "You want me dead? Here I am!"

The beast chuckled, "Who said I wanted you dead?"

"I did!" replied Kiyoshi, "The moment I called the hellgate upon you!"

The beast froze. There was a deadly silence, somewhere behind Kiyoshi something was starting to bubble and shake the ground.

"Bad move, kid," hissed Zaiaku, "I'll leave her alone, because she's already dead and I can't kill her. But you're going to hell with me!"

"I'd like to say it's about time," replied Kiyoshi, "Unfortunately I've been told that phrase many times in the past, and it seems that it only comes from liars."

The beast crouched on all fours, "You pesky kid, you don't know who you're dealing with."

"Since you don't want to tell me, I'll assume that you're some sort of overgrown gecko without eyes."

Zaiaku growled, "I hoped I'd be the one to tell you, but I know quite well that there's no escaping the hellgate."

Kiyoshi looked at the black bony lizard. It was beginning to illuminate from the fissure's rising lava. "Tell me what?"

"What we are," replied Zaiaku, "What you are."

That being said, the beast lunged at Kiyoshi and dug its claws deep into both of his arms. Kiyoshi's bones broke and muscles ripped, but he kept a cold stare into the place where he assumed the creature's eyes were supposed to be; they weren't there, there was just a smooth surface. The creature's smooth leather reflected Kiyoshi, and he was able to see, along with his own reflection, a reflection of the fissure behind him.

The hellhate was rising from the fissure's bubbling lava. It was a horrid sight of bones, flesh, and dark spirits; they were all warped and ruptured into something that looked painful.

Kiyoshi was glad that he was merely looking at the reflection of the gate, because a single glance would petrify him and he would be unable to get out of Zaiaku's grasp.

He placed his knees between himself and the creature's chest. He then, slowly and painfully, got his feet up on the beast's shoulder-bones. He Pushed and twisted himself off Zaiaku's claws that were acting as meat-hooks.

Before he could catch proper footing, the beast spun around and whipped Kiyoshi in the chest-plate with its bony tail. Kiyoshi flew across the street and found certain pains to be signs of broken ribs.

Zaiaku looked at the hellgate, then rushed over to Kiyoshi. "I have twenty or so seconds left before I go, so here's my final present to you."

Twenty seconds later Zaiaku was nowhere on earth in physical form nor spiritual. He was being feasted upon by foul oversized ringworms in the deepest pits of hell.

After those same twenty seconds Kiba lost his conscience and fell off Akamaru. This surprised Naruto because he hadn't done anything to Kiba, yet Naruto's confusion couldn't match Akamaru's when Kiba fell off his back.

Naruto dropped to his knees. He wanted a shower, something to eat, and go to sleep. He was disappointed by the knowledge that he wouldn't have time for any of those. What he had to do was go to the hospital to treat his wound, then go back to the office because another pile of paperwork was probably formed.

He closed his eyes and didn't open them for a while. He just sat there, feeling spiritually tired from his 'to do' list.

"Naruto!" came a distant voice.

"Naruto!" it came again, this time a bit closer and more pleasant.

Naruto didn't open his eyes or move, but simply smiled. The voice was familiar and soft. It was Hinata's.

"Naruto!" called out Hinata again, running up to the battle-stern street.

"I'm here," replied Naruto. This startled Hinata because she didn't notice him due to his stillness.

"I'm here too," said an annoying deep voice from the mouth of the blond boy, and Naruto started radiating in burning hot red chakra.

A/N: Well, once again I took a while. Saying sorry doesn't seem to nullify my guilt so I'll try something different. I'll take my mind off it by thinking about something else. This was probably a short chapter, which is excused because of the fact that it's the second part to a single chapter, and I still can't get microsoft word to work, so you know the drill.

Here's a weak rationalization that's a result of too much thinking and being utterly paranoid. That being said, I think it's obvious that this comes from my point of view.

Hard to say, but sometimes people from group A say things to patronize the people in group B. Then the people in group B are very thick and get confused whether the people in group A know what they're talking about or are just trying patronize them.

Where as people in group C avoid the whole ordeal altogether by not making fanfiction accounts and not replying.

And the people in group D surf from fanfic to fanfic pointing out mistakes and things people in group B can improve on. Unfortunately the people of group D are a rare breed, and can't give their help to everyone. Also the people in group D can't genuinely enjoy a fanfic because they're torn between the fantasy world, and the literary world.

Then there are people from group E who don't give a damn about anything, and go around flaming as many people as they can get their hands on. They are often confused for people in group D, because most people in group B are incompetent and arrogant self-obsessed pigs, and consequentially are given bad reviews by people in group D.

What it all comes down to is this: do I prefer people from group A, who genuinely enjoy my fanfiction, but confuse the hell out of me. Or do I prefer people from group D, who give me solid facts, but are nothing more than hitch-hikers. Or perhaps by some arbitrary reason I prefer the flamers from group E.

In the end, it doesn't matter what I prefer, because I get what I get, and I'm glad I have you guys reading this.


	22. Chapter 20 Deep Scars

Chapter 20 - Deep Scars

Naruto was startled to be falling through darkness. He was falling upwards, or rather downwards but head-first. This, although physically possible, was somehow odd because he didn't really expect it to happen. He thought it might have been something to do with severe blood-loss, but then realized that his blood-loss wasn't severe enough to send him into the bottomless pit of his consciousness.

As he looked down past his feet, which was actually upwards due to a nifty little thing called gravity, he realized where he was. He groaned.

"You goddamn fox!" He yelled at the eyes and blood-thirsty grin in front of him. He turned and found that the cage wasn't separating him from the beast. "Why are you on my side of the bars?"

On a closer observation, Naruto realized that it was actually himself that had crossed the cage bars. He turned to look around and realized that he wasn't actually falling, but floating in a very awkward position.

The fox snapped its jaws, "You were visiting me for tea."

Naruto thought about this, then shook his head because he found something wrong with the fox's logic. "I'm not thirsty."

The blond boy then heard a faint scream. He listened closely. It was indeed, without a doubt, a scream. He turned to the source of the scream, which was behind him. After a while he came to the conclusion that no matter how much he turned or twisted the scream would always stay behind him, in the back of his head, in the subconscious thoughts of his mind.

"Who is that?" whispered Naruto.

The scream was becoming quieter, drifting into silence. This made the boy nervous because he recognized the scream as being Hinata's.

He focused. Then unfocused. Then focused some more, trying to pinpoint Hinata's direction. She was awakening Naruto, allowing him to step into the domain of his conscious thought. He squeezed past the Kyubi that was occupying his mind and tried to push the beast away.

He could hear Hinata more clearly now. She was calling out to him. He strained his will on pushing through.

Hinata ran up to Naruto, bearing the heat of the red entity gushing out of him like a violent flame. She hugged him, then kissed him, then could no longer recognize his eyes.

She activated Byakugan and started plugging the chakra holes on his body. She couldn't get enough of them before the Kyubi's tail swept her off her feet.

"Naruto!" she called out, "Snap out of it!"

Naruto was so close to gaining control again that he could see Hinata once before he was pushed back again.

Then he felt a warm touch. He grabbed onto it to help him through.

His hopeless struggle seemed to disappear as he got engulfed in violet flames. He cut through the Kyubi like katana through waterfall. He fell over when he regained complete consciousness, breathing heavily.

Hinata ran up to him, hugged him, kissed him, and recognized his eyes when he reopened them. "Don't scare me like that again."

Naruto hugged her back and promised that he wouldn't let the Kyubi hurt her again.

Hinata looked back at the unconscious Kiba. "Why's Kiba-kun here?"

Naruto sat up and looked at Kiba, "He fought me because you chose me over him."

"Kiba?" exclaimed Hinata, "That's impossible! We were just friends!"

"Are you sure that's how he felt?" asked Naruto, he looked back down at Kiba, "He was pretty envious of me." He looked up at Hinata again, "And I can see why he would be."

Hinata smiled, "What are you doing here anyways?"

"I was in the middle of the case about dogs when..." He realized something and his eyes widened, "Kiyoshi!"

If crucification involved breaking every limb, stuffing gravel and rocks down the victim's throat, and making multiple deep bloody cuts across the body in all directions, then Kiyoshi was crucified in the most severe way.

Naruto ran up to Kiyoshi, and heard Hinata vomit behind him.

Kiyoshi was hanging upside-down off a cross, his arms and legs making sharp bends in ways they shouldn't be, and bloody mud slowly dripping out of his open mouth. He looked as if somebody had gutted him like a fish, but not completely. Severed muscles were loosely hanging out of his chest and arms, revealing several of the bones and ribs.

Naruto let the image sink in before he also vomited.

Kiyoshi twitched.

Naruto ran up to him and wiped blood off his face. "Hinata! I need your help!"

Hinata was too traumatized to move. She sat on her knees, tears pouring down her pale face.

Naruto cut the dirty ropes that tied Kiyoshi to the cross and the boy fell to the ground.

"Hinata!" exclaimed Naruto, "Go get Sakura!"

Hinata was shaking, but nodded slightly. She slowly got up and turned around. Before she was able to move, Kakashi put his hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright, Hinata," he said, "Calm down."

Naruto ran up to Kakashi, "We have to get him to a hospital!"

Kakashi didn't move an inch, "Naruto, sometimes people die."

"He's not dead! He still has a pulse!"

Kakashi's eyes widened. Chills came down his spine as Kiyoshi's corpse got up and limply stood like a puppeteer's doll. There was still dirt in his throat, his blood gushed out, and he fell to the ground when the bone in his leg snapped again. The boy got up again.

Kakashi rushed over to the boy and supported him over his shoulder. Kiyoshi was heavy. "Naruto!" he exclaimed, "Go get help from the hospital! I'll get him there as quickly as possible!"

Along with a team of skilled medic-nin, Sakura examined Kiyoshi, surprised by several things.

"Naruto," she said, "What the hell is he?"

Naruto nodded, "He's one tough son of a phoenix."

"Not that," said Sakura. "He should have been dead long ago, I'm guessing months ago."

"What do you mean?"

Sakura checked her charts again to make sure, then frowned at the boy, "Most of his organs are no longer functional. Furthermore, his bones were broken prior to this incident."

Naruto didn't understand. "How do you know that?"

"The two halves of a freshly broken bone have sharp ends. These sharp ends fit together to form the original full bone, and in time the bone heals, reforms."

"Yeah, so?"

"Kiyoshi's bones are shattered in many places, and in several of those places the sharp ends of the shards are rounded."

"How does that happen?"

"Kind of like the round rocks you find in an ocean," explained Sakura, "The rocks grind against each-other, and eventually the corners become rounded off. Several of Kiyoshi's bones that are broken can't even be healed anymore."

Naruto flinched at the thought, "Why does he still resemble a normal human?"

"His muscles are supporting the bones into place. They're kind of like slings that keep the bones from bending. Still, even the slightest movements prevent a bone from healing properly, and he's moved a lot."

"Scary," whispered Naruto.

Sakura looked at the chart again and frowned even more, "Another thing," she said, "I've run several tests, and they all confirm something that shouldn't be possible."

"That is..."

"Naruto," whispered Sakura, "Kiyoshi's cold-blooded."

Naruto chuckled, "What did you say?"

"He's not a homo-sapien," she repeated, "I even doubt that he's a mammal."

Naruto looked down at Kiyoshi, "Putting racism aside, how's he able to breathe?"

"He isn't," replied Sakura.

"Explain."

"I can't explain it," replied Sakura. "I've cleaned his lungs, but they were also damaged prior to the incident. He hasn't been able to use them to breathe for a while now."

Naruto shook his head, "I don't get it," he said, "You are a medic-nin, tell me how he was able to survive."

Sakura shrugged, "That's something I can't explain," she replied, "I don't know how to describe him other than a rag doll. Because that's what he is, a rag doll."

"No he isn't!" snapped Naruto.

"Yes I am," said Kiyoshi, startling his friends and the med-nin trying to operate on him. "I am only able to survive due to the strength of my spirit."

"How are you breathing?" asked Naruto, ignoring his comment. "How are you surviving?"

Kiyoshi sat up, ignoring the complaints and fuss coming from the medic-nin. "I call it the pore-breathing jutsu."

Naruto demanded that Kiyoshi explain everything at once, but Kiyoshi ignored him. He just limply stood up and put his clothes on before stepping out of the operating room. Pushing through the resistance of the medic-nin and Naruto, he managed to say only one word before someone cast a sleeping jutsu on him. The word was "Akane..."

He broke the jutsu two days later when nobody was attending him. He got up, dressed himself, and not feeling any better, he sneaked out of Konoha using the support of a wooden staff.

He traveled several days before reaching a familiar location. He stepped off the path into the woods, pushing past the growth. He walked for half an hour before he hit a genjutsu barrier. He dispelled it and fell to his knees when he saw what had happened to Akane's village.

He cursed god for keeping his eyes functional so that he was able to see his slaughtered home-town. He then thanked god for keeping his eyes functional so that he could mourn for the loss of Akane. 


	23. Chapter 21 The ugly side

Chapter 21 - The ugly side

"Sakura-chan," said Hinata before standing up to greet the girl leaving the operating room. "What happened in there?"

Sakura looked down. She did not know how to explain Kiyoshi's condition, and she was starting to wonder if 'condition' was the right word to describe Kiyoshi's being. She looked up and said the only words that came to mind. "I don't know."

Hinata saw Naruto step out of the operating room behind Sakura. He didn't look pleased one bit. "Naruto?"

Naruto turned to Hinata and gave showed her a weak grin. Realizing that his grin didn't lighten the mood, he wiped it off and replaced it with a expression of concern. "We had to sedate him."

"What?" asked Hinata.

Naruto sat down on a bench and sighed. "He wouldn't lay still."

"Why?"

He shrugged, "I don't know."

"He said..." said Sakura, but was interrupted by a team of doctors rushing by with a patient in critical condition. She rushed into the operating room after them.

Naruto took Hinata by the arm and pulled her away. They walked around several corners before Naruto became satisfied with privacy. Under any normal circumstances the privacy would lead them to making out. This time it didn't. They were both on edge after what happened to Kiyoshi.

"Naruto," said Hinata, "What's happening?"

Naruto sighed and leaned against the wall. "I need Kiyoshi to tell me," he replied, "I don't understand what's been happening to this village lately."

Hinata recalled Kiyoshi's lifeless corpse and her eyes started watering. "What could do that? What could do that to Kiyoshi?"

Naruto shrugged, "I don't know. It wasn't human."

"Kiyoshi can't be cut with a chakra knife, and his strength is almost enough to rival Tsunade-sama," she looked up at Naruto, "What could have done that to Kiyoshi?"

Naruto sighed and gave Hinata a hug, "I'm going to go try to figure it out at the office. I think you should go home and sleep. We've been through a lot."

"You get some rest too, Naruto-kun." said hinata and pecked him on the cheek.

"As soon as I have the time."

Sakura dipped a needle into a poisonous venom. "Prepare his veins," she told a group of medic-nin surrounding a young patient.

"What are you trying to do?" exclaimed one, "That's thundersnake venom!"

Sakura grabbed the medic by the collar and pulled him closer to make a point in authority. "This poison is the only thing that can neutralize his parasite! Now prepare his vein!" She let go of him.

The man backed up, breathing heavily, "Scary..."

Moments later, the child's was fever was starting to fade and his teeth unclenched.

Sakura stepped out of the operating room to find herself late for dinner with a guy. She sighed and started walking down the hallway. She passed several closed doors and one open one. After several steps she realized that the door should have been closed and turned around. Another thing she realized was that the door lead to Kiyoshi's room and it should have been locked.

Naruto slapped himself awake and went back to the documents. A loud knock came on his door, then the door was broken down. Sakura was standing in the empty doorframe with a concerned expression.

"What is it?" asked Naruto "And will you pay for the repairs?"

Sakura rushed over to Naruto, "Kiyoshi's gone."

Naruto jumped up, knocking over his chair and a filing cabinet. He rushed out, dragging Sakura behind him. "How did it happen?"

"I don't know. I was operating on a delicate patient. When I came out he was gone."

Naruto rushed down the staircase, Sakura followed him. "Do you have any idea where he might've gone?"

"I'm not sure," replied Sakura, "There's a team of professional trackers following him. He couldn't have gotten far in his condition."

Naruto wasn't satisfied. He saw Kiyoshi die in an explosion that took out several ships, disappear, then bearing those wounds sneak in and out of Konoha, almost undetected. "Did he leave a note or anything?"

"No, but..."

Naruto stopped and turned to Sakura, "You were going to tell me something that Kiyoshi said back in the operating room. What were you gonna say?"

"When we were sedating him, he said something," replied Sakura, "Akume, or Akana, or something..."

"Did he say 'Akane'?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

Naruto rushed down the stairs, leaving Sakura behind. "Find Kakashi! Tell him to meet me where we met the Lost Soul Army!"

"What?" Sakura screamed back. Naruto's voice was fading.

"Lost Soul!"

Naruto ran by the gate guards, then stopped and returned. "Did you guys see anyone leave in the last two hours?"

"Yeah," said one of the guards, "Tsunade-sama."

Naruto rushed down the path they took during the summer, the one that led them to the Lost soul army, the same path that Hinata confessed her love to Naruto on. The same path that Kiyoshi had to follow to get to his butchered hometown.

Naruto saw footprints every two meters, and a handprint with a big mess of dirt every now and then. Kiyoshi wasn't in any condition to run, he was barely in condition to lay in bed and sleep.

Naruto quickened his pace, and a few moments later Kakashi had caught up with him.

"Oi, Naruto, what's going on?"

"Kiyoshi's just about dead, and he's running to Akane."

"Akane? You mean his one-time guardian?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"That's something we'll find out when we get there," replied Naruto, "I think something bad is going on around Kiyoshi."

Kakashi agreed and recalled an old time when he, side by side with Naruto, was chasing the Akatsuki to retrieve Gaara. At the time Naruto was an enraged beast, incapable of containing the Kyubi enough for the even slightest rational thought. He looked at the teen, wondering if he'd grown away from rushing directly into combat.

"Naruto, be careful." Said Kakashi and stopped running. Naruto glanced back at Kakashi, who was standing and fading into the distance behind him. "I hope you can handle this on your own. I can't help you anymore."

Naruto didn't stop. He kept on tracking Kiyoshi. He made a sharp turn where the footprints led through a trampled bush.

He came out onto a burnt plane with nothing but a figure. Kiyoshiwas on his knees, facing away from Naruto. "Kiyoshi, is this..."

Kiyoshi stood up slowly. He lifted his head, but didn't turn to Naruto.

Naruto saw a bloody hand hanging over Kiyoshi's shoulder. He approached the boy with caution. "Kiyoshi..."

Kiyoshi turned around to face Naruto. Akane's torso was hanging off Kiyoshi's shoulder by the arm, head bobbing lifelessly. "You are about to step into the ugly side of the world." Said Kiyoshi. He had a blank face, no tears, no sadness, no joy. No soul left in his eyes.

Naruto made one more step towards Kiyoshi and the plane suddenly became filled with fire, destroyed houses, and torn apart bodies. "Wh... Wh..." Naruto's breath was caught by a hook that was slaughter. He closed his eyes and opened them again, half expecting for the massacre to go away. He saw it again, the fire and death. He started shaking. "Wh..."

"They're dead."

Naruto pulled himself together and ran up to Kiyoshi. He placed his hands on the teen's shoulders and shook him, "Kiyoshi! What on earth is going on?"

"The beast that I fought in Konoha was called 'Sin'."

"What beast?" exclaimed Naruto.

"His name was 'Sin', he's the one who filled Ino with lust. He's the one who filled Kiba with envy. It was a matter of time before Choji got gluttony."

Naruto shook Kiyoshi some more, "Why?"

Kiyoshi smiled. "He was just there to warn me."

"Warn you about what?"

Kiyoshi gave Naruto a crazed smile, "Don't tell me you didn't feel him," he leaned over to Naruto, "He was the cold sensation we felt outside Kiba's house."

Naruto shuddered as chills went down his spine. "Is he the one who attacked you?"

"He told me that Akane would be killed if I wouldn't give myself up."

Naruto realized something when a tear formed in his eye, "Kiyoshi, I didn't know."

"You put me to sleep when I was trying to come help Akane," replied Kiyoshi, "Don't blame yourself. I was the one who couldn't tell you in time. But now they're dead, and you're the next target."

"Me?" asked Naruto.

Kiyoshi chuckled, "Not you, Naruto," he said, "Kakashi, Hinata, Sakura, Konoha, and then you."

Naruto's breath disappeared. "Why?"

"To destroy my spirit."

Naruto scoffed through his delicate voice, "You? Why?"

"You don't need to know," said Kiyoshi. "I'm giving myself up to them."

Kiyoshi freed himself from Naruto's grip, turned around and crouched. He gently put Akane down on the ground and started digging with his hands. Naruto looked around, taking in the massacre one more time before hitting Kiyoshi over the head with a large stone and knocking him out.


	24. Chapter 22 To fall

Hey, I'm so sleepy that I won't even gonna go over this chapter for grammar/spelling. Just accept it for what it is, or don't. Thanks for reading.

Chapter 22 - To fall.

Kiyoshi woke up in a hospital - the hospital. It was the first time he'd woken up so quietly and so easily. His eyes simply opened and that was it.

A nurse came into his room half an hour later and approached the clipboard neatly positioned on the bars at his feet. Kiyoshi was restrained with belts, which was oddly surprising to the new nurse.

She picked up the clipboard and started skimming pages to see what the patient was in for. She expected such a tied up person to act violently when waking up, so she assumed he was still asleep.

Five minutes had gone by until she finally looked up at him, finding his eyes lightly observing her. She gasped and stepped back from the startling encounter, then calmed down and put the clipboard back in its rightful place. She looked at him again, finding the same dead eyes as before.

"You're awake," she stated quietly. Then there was a silence. She interrupted it with "Do you want me to get you anyth..." but Kiyoshi spoke.

"Don't despair," he interrupted, "Keep them close."

Then the brief set of interruptions was interrupted by another silence. The nurse decided that it would be best to leave Kiyoshi to his mindless babbling and go to some place where she was needed. As she left the room, Kiyoshi said one final word, "Family."

The girl passed by Ino and said, "I think he's insane."

Ino walked into the room and looked at Kiyoshi. He was physically a ragdoll, but spiritually he was a shipwreck that had once been an unstoppable fleet of warships. She sat down and put her hand on his forehead. "We're still here. We're your family too. Come back."

Kiyoshi looked at her. He wasn't sad, nor was he happy. He had lost his emotions along with everything of his past and spirit. "You're vulnerable, as am I. The only thing I can do to protect you is give up my own life."

"That won't protect us," replied Ino. "That'll weaken us."

Kiyoshi smiled. He turned his head to the window and whispered, "I can't sense her anymore."

Ino didn't follow along. "Who?"

Tears formed in his eyes, rolled across his cheek and down his neck. "Hikari."

"What do you mean?" asked Ino, "Isn't she here now?"

"I don't know. My spirit is too broken to feel her."

Ino gave Kiyoshi a moment of silence. "Kiyoshi, please tell me what's going on."

Kiyoshi looked up at the ceiling. There was a dark stain. "My clan was once legendary and feared throughout the world," said Kiyoshi, "As well as isolated and independant."

Naruto walked in, not interrupting Kiyoshi because he needed to know the story too.

"We were feared not because of what we were, but because of the potential we had to become something deadly."

"How deadly?" asked Naruto.

"Deadly enough that we'd have no more than a single casualty for every city we's conquer over," replied Kiyoshi. "We were only potentually dangerous. We were good people with strong morals and unnatural peace."

Naruto took a moment to close the door. The conversation was going in a direction that's bad for public knowledge.

Kiyoshi continued, "Then history stopped."

There was a long pause. Naruto and Ino were waiting for Kiyoshi to continue, but he just lay there. "What do you mean 'history stopped'?" asked Naruto.

"They were wiped off the face of the earth," explained Kiyoshi. "I don't know what happened. The records stopped when they died, and nobody knew how it happened or who killed them."

"But you have a theory?" asked Naruto.

"Yes."

"And what is the theory?"

Kiyoshi halted. He waited, then decided. "I can only tell you, Naruto. Ino, you have to leave."

Something twisted inside the girl. She let out a small whimper, then nodded. Stepping out the door, Ino gave Kiyoshi a look as if she'd never see him again. She walked down the hallway, strong and steady and without shedding a single tear, and yet feeling a crack somewhere deep down.

"I don't think she's over you," said Naruto.

Kiyoshi didn't move, "On the contrary, she just broke all ties with me."

Naruto turned back to Kiyoshi, "Why'd you tell her to leave?"

"My clan is still alive," said Kiyoshi.

"What?"

"My clan has been stalking me for some time now."

"Your clan is dead, Kiyoshi."

"Then why am I in this condition?" asked Kiyoshi, "Why is Hikari dead?"

Naruto tried to grasp what Kiyoshi had been telling him. "Are you saying that the spirits of your clan are haunting you?"

"No," replied Kiyoshi, "Worse than that. I'm being hunted by those of my clan that went renegade."

"Renegade?"

"Were my clan alive right now, these renegades would be called exiles."

"What did they do?"

"They started practicing the forbidden techniques of my clan. They gained tremendous power."

"What kind of power?"

Kiyoshi paused for a moment, considering the possibility of his theory being wrong. He reconsidered. He put much time and blood into researching his clan. "Naruto, in your texts, what creature was known as 'the master of time'?"

Naruto paused, "The dragon." he replied, "Are you saying that they gained the power to become dragons?"

"Not completely. Not quite." corrected Kiyoshi, "They failed. Now they're some pathetic creatures slightly resembling dragons."

"So they only resemble dragons?"

"As I said, not quite dragons, but still too powerful for everyone's sake. They are able to turn ethereal, getting all kinds of spiritual powers."

"Why are they following you around?"

Kiyoshi turned to Naruto and squinted his eyes, "For shits and giggles."

"Seriously, why?"

Kiyoshi closed his eyes, preparing to go to sleep. "I don't know. They're trying to use me for something."

"How would they go about doing that?"

"They'd have to possess my body, but in order to do that they need to crush my spirit."

Naruto blinked, "You feel pretty dead to me, your voice is cold, and you'd normally rip through those belts to go and visit graves and such. It seems to me they've already crushed your spirits. Why haven't they taken over you?"

Kiyoshi shrugged, "I was wondering about that too. Perhaps Hikari is fighting them off somehow."

"Can't you tell if she is? I thought you could see ghosts."

"Spirits," corrected Kiyoshi, "and you've already answered your own question. I am broken in body, but also spirit, therefore I can't see anything so close to god as spirits."

Naruto was about to say something, but Kiyoshi cut him off.

"And I don't want to talk right now... I... want..." he yawned, and ended the sentence in a fading whisper, "sleep."

Naruto peered at Kiyoshi for a while. He sat down and started thinking. He realized that he was unprepared to face an invasion of semi-dragons. Then he wondered about the pore-breathing technique that allowed Kiyoshi to breathe. He looked back at Kiyoshi and felt uncomfortable thinking any further about means of defense. His battered and destroyed friend was sleeping in a critical condition next to him, and any attention that isn't directed at him should be paid outside.

He gave Kiyoshi one last glance before leaving. "How many times are you going to die?"

Kiyoshi whispered in his sleep, "As many as it takes to stay dead."

Hinata came up to Naruto as he walked out. She took his arm and wrapped it around herself, then walked him down the hallway. Naruto was very lost in thought. The boy yawned, being infected by Kiyoshi's yawn. The yawn then affected Hinata, and then everyone was very sleepy.

Naruto thought about Kiyoshi's earlier words. He wondered what a Hokage truly was, and whether he'd ever become one.

He then realized that Hinata had managed to sneak up on him and nest herself in his arm. He kissed her and nearly fell down a set of stairs.

Ino was a long way away from the hospital. Not because a lot of time had passed, but because she was running. The crack she had felt when she left Kiyoshi was eroding from salty tears, spreding, allowing more tears to leak through.

She punched a tree, bark and pulp shattering through the air. She punched it again to make sure that her tears were due to physical pain and not emotional. Ino kept punching it until Kakashi's face softened the blow on both, tree and fist.

She stepped back apologetically, then apologized with words, "I'm sorry, Kakashi-sama."

Kakashi shook off the blow to the head and looked at Ino. She was blurry. He shook his head again. She was now blurry, and standing next to an equally blurry twin. "Nice punch there."

"What were you doing?" she exclaimed, being irritated by Kakashi's light-headed wit at the worst possible time. "How old are you?" she screamed.

"I was just wondering," said Kakashi, finally coming around from the blow, but still walking in circles, "What happened to you. I mean," he continued using the same tone, "You were so arrogant and ruthless at one time. What happened to you?"

Ino thought about it, but found Kakashi's wobbling walk a bit distracting. She turned away from him. "I don't know." she said, "I mean, when someone tells you not to love them because they'd already found someone else, you find little sense in those words. But I respected those words. I respected his wish and still loved him in paradox." she whimpered, "I'm so confused."

"Love makes very little sense," said Kakashi and finally fell down.


	25. Chapter 23 Cannot laugh

Chapter 23 - Cannot laugh.

Naruto, several days after Kiyoshi's misfortune, decided to pay the teen a visit in the hospital. He walked into the room, half-expecting Kiyoshi to have run away. Kiyoshi was still in bed, tied up as before, in the same position as before, and no improvement in condition than before. None of his cuts were showing any signs of healing up.

Naruto came up with a dreadful thought and tried to shake Kiyoshi awake.

Kiyoshi's head bobbed and drool dripped on the pillow. Naruto was rather disgusted to find himself touching the warm fluid, but it was better than being mournful from touching the drool were it cold. Kiyoshi was alive, and still asleep.

Naruto sighed and sat down on a chair. "Hokage..." He thought, "What is a Hokage?"

Kiyoshi woke up and decided to startle Naruto by asking him "Have you come up with an answer?"

Naruto decided to not be startled and answer the question. "No. I mean, not really."

Kiyoshi decided to see where Naruto's train of thought went, so he said, "What have you gotten so far?"

"Well," said Naruto, and decided to answer again. "A Hokage is a leader, that much is obvious."

Kiyoshi decided to agree.

"But a leader is nothing without leadership qualities," said Naruto, and decided to stop deciding and get to the point. "I guess a Hokage is supposed to be there to catch people when they fall."

"You're on the right track," said Kiyoshi.

"That's all I've got."

Kiyoshi was disappointed to find Naruto's reasoning to be so narrow-minded (and he was also disappointed to have the match of decision-making cut short). Naruto, Kiyoshi realized, understood what a 'Hokage' meant deep down, but was unable to put his feelings into words.

The two teens remained quiet for a while, Kiyoshi enjoying his moment of awkward silence. The silence was interrupted when Hinata walked into the room. "Hey, Kiyoshi-kun."

Kiyoshi looked up at Hinata, "Welcome."

Hinata pulled up a chair and put a basket she had brought with her on a table. "I thought I might cheer you up with some home-baked apple pie," said Hinata "You've been all gloomy and sad lately."

Naruto, just then, realized that Hinata was living in a world outside Kiyoshi and Naruto. He felt guilt grabbing him in a tight headlock, feeling torn apart. On one hand he'd keep nothing hidden from Hinata, show her the world that they were tied up in, thus putting her in danger of the ugly side of life. And on the other hand, he could spare her the worries and dangers of Kiyoshi's world, but that meant keeping her in the dark, which felt no better than lying to her.

Naruto glanced at Kiyoshi, who was saddened by Hinata's careless words. Kiyoshi looked up and met Naruto's gaze. Naruto's questioning eyes demanded an answer from Kiyoshi, the eyes demanded guidance.

Kiyoshi couldn't take it anymore, "Why the hell are you asking me?" he yelled, "Decide on your own! She's your girlfriend, not mine!"

Kiyoshi's seemingly random spouting startled Hinata and she started looking back and forth between the two boys. "What's going on?" she asked.

Naruto sighed, then looked over at Hinata. He froze, afraid of the consequences that would come with revealing the built-up secret. Then he spoke. He spoke as much truth as he knew. He told her about Kiyoshi's clan. He told her about the renegade beasts that were once the teen's clan. He told her about the massacre that happened several days beforehand. He told her about all the dangers and horrors of the ugly site of life.

Hinata listened attentively, each word pulling mixed emotions of anger, sadness and relief from deep down. By the time Naruto was done talking Hinata was in tears.

Naruto couldn't bring himself to wrap his hands around Hinata. He couldn't comfort her. He was sitting on his chair in a slouched position, head down, eyes closed.

Eventually Naruto gathered the nerve to look up at Hinata and find the unexpected.

She was smiling.

She hugged him and he felt her tears on his neck. He allowed himself to hug her back, unsure as to what had just happened.

"Thank you, Naruto," she said, "Thank you for not keeping me out of the loop. And thank you for believing in my strength."

Naruto snapped and let go. He'd forgotten how strong Hinata was. He had forgotten how powerful they were side-by-side. He let go of the valve that kept his tears from gushing out.

A while went by before they realized that they were in Kiyoshi's hospital room. The couple looked at him.

Kiyoshi was long asleep and unaware of the happenings around him. He wasn't dreaming. He was an undead, and the undead do not dream.

"I guess," said Hinata, "I shouldn't have told him that he needed to cheer up. That was very inconsiderate of me."

"Hush, you didn't know." replied Naruto, "He'll get over it. Eventually he'll feel the need to see Hikari again."

"Being unable to speak to her must be painful and heavy. I couldn't imagine losing you," said Hinata, "It'd be unbearable."

Naruto looked at Kiyoshi again, "I don't think he's bearing it," he replied, "He seems to have given up altogether."

"How so?"

"Have you seen him sleep? Such deep sleep can only mean that he's sleeping through darkness, not dreaming anything. It's the same as being dead."

Hinata also looked down at Kiyoshi, "Perhaps he needs to rest in peace for a while."

Ino sat in a shade, looking up at the sky. Kakashi was passed out, resting not too far off. She was tired of thinking, so she was considering going home, taking a warm bath, and going to bed.

She got up and started walking. After taking several steps she caught sight of a shrine, with numerous people attending a ceremony.

She gasped when realizing that she'd forgotten something very important. She said "Oh my god" and ran off.

Kakashi woke up later on to find himself caught a cold from lying on the cold Autumn ground. He sneezed and walked off.

Sakura stepped out a door. She was now outside. The inside that was behind the door belonged to a boy she'd met more than once, and under more than one circumstance. She was cheery and in an overall a good mood because the boy, under each of the circumstances of their encounters, was hot, and because their encounters were mostly dates. This was the end of one of those memorable dates.

She hummed as she danced down the paved road. She was hoping that it would start raining so that she could express her joy by breaking several copyright laws posted by the creators of 'singing in the rain', and possibly the noses of attourneys that would file the complaints and hand her the court orders for breaking those laws. This would lead Sakura into more problems, like being sued for assault and, perhaps, even manslaughter. Luckily it didn't rain, but she was still happy.

She felt her joy and pace slowly fade away as she skipped past a ceremony commemorating all those who lost their lives fighting the Kyubi. She whispered several words, five of them were vulgar curses, three of those swears had never been heard by the ears of mankind. She rushed down the street, remembering something she'd forgotten with all the chaos happening around Konoha.

People flew and flipped through the air as Sakura pushed and tackled her way through the crowd, looking for a store.

That night everyone slept tightly, like the loss of tide before a Tsunami. Even the senators, who were secretly keeping constant tabs on Naruto, were in deep slumber. Kiyoshi was the only one awake, because he was the only one who knew what was coming. He couldn't sleep. The next time he'd fall asleep would be his last.

He felt too restrained to think properly. He felt trapped. He twisted his wrist and tore the leather handcuff off. He kept ripping the leather belts off himself, but he still felt trapped. He lay in his bed, twisting and turning.

Hours passed before he finally got up and walked out of his room. He couldn't take it. Throwing everything away was too ubearable, he wasn't strong enough to do it. He felt the only way to actually fight the beasts was to become a beast himself. He soon realized that in order to become as powerful as the beasts, was to throw away everything he'd ever cared for.

Throw everything away to save everything. It felt too unfair that the universe had suddenly turned all its laws of karma against him. It was unfair that evil had it so easy. All evil had to do to become powerful was do more evil, cause more pain to others. Grow by doing. He knew he was no saint. He knew he wasn't an avatar of goodness. But having no way out, no way to save his friends without first destroying them, he still couldn't sacrifice them. This was a law of the universe under which all evil basked in.

Kiyoshi came up to a vending machine. He slammed it to get a free drink. The slam of fist on machinery woke up a nurse that was sleeping not too far off. She rushed to the source of the disturbance, and gasped to find Kiyoshi drinking a warm beverage beside a fizzing, then smoking vending machine.

"How'd you get out?" she exclaimed.

Kiyoshi put his index finger to his lips, and said "Shh... there are people sleeping."

The nurse didn't know whether to calm down or take his words as a threat and scream. She slowly backed away just in case Kiyoshi was actually dangerous enough to have earned the bondage of leather belts.

Kiyoshi simply turned around and walked back into his room.

The nurse ran up and peeked through the doorframe. Kiyoshi lay in the bedsheets as before, but the belts weren't binding him.

Kiyoshi kept wondering what'd happen next. He knew all too well the kind of enemy he was facing. A ruthless swarm of unstoppable beasts that would rip through Konoha without the need of slightest effort. He knew that they'd come and do it too.

His next series of thoughts were a bunch of hopeless battle plans. He snapped out of his contemplations and chuckled at his own stupidity. The beasts would be able to turn ethereal, and make Konoha turn itself over and inside-out with presence alone.

"Umm..." said the nurse in a hushed voice.

Kiyoshi turned to her. She was still peeking through the doorframe, afraid of entering. "Who are you?" he said.

"How mean..." said the nurse, and slowly walked into the room. "I came to tend to you several times."

"Oh, right..." remembered Kiyoshi, "You're the one who took my words of wisdom as words of mental instability."

"I'd hardly call that wisdom," she said, "You just said a several random words without any real explanation."

"Whatever," said Kiyoshi and turned away.

"Um," interrupted the girl again.

"What is it?"

The girl hesitated, then asked, "Why are you still here?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're probably healthy enough to leave."

Kiyoshi thought about this for a moment, then replied, "You really think so?"

The girl failed to catch the sarcasm, "If you were able to free yourself, then there's no doubt."

"I've got nowhere I want to be right now."

"Don't you have family?"

The words hit Kiyoshi like a rock. He didn't know how to answer. He simply got up and walked past the girl without answering her, picked up his clothes, and walked out the door for the second and last time that night.

Naruto woke up from a knock on his door. He got up, rubbing his eyes.

He opened the door, fingering a shuriken that he thought he was unlikely to need. He was half-correct. The shuriken would be useless.

Kiyoshi was leaning on the frame of the door. He held onto his stomach which was, along with many other parts of his body, bleeding.

"Kiyoshi! What happened?" exclaimed Naruto, and gave the boy a shoulder for support.

Kiyoshi declined the shoulder and walked in on his own. "Nothing. I still haven't healed up properly."

"You've been bleeding for the past several days! Where do you get all the blood from?"

"I'm a vampire," explained Kiyoshi.

Naruto stood still for a moment, then shook his head, "What?"

"I'm just kidding, Naruto," chuckled Kiyoshi, and tears formed in his eyes as if they were a biological response to his own laughter, same way that people are prone to laugh when tickled. "I'm just... I'm just losing blood," he sobbed.

"Whoa," thought Naruto, "Something's seriously fucked up with him." He then remembered things Kiyoshi was dealing with, and left his reasoning at that. He once again gave Kiyoshi a supportive shoulder, this time without meeting resistance, and helped him limp over to a couch.

"Naruto," said Kiyoshi, quiet sobbing becoming quieter and fading, "I'm in no position to fight those things."

"I can see that," said Naruto, tying a piece of cloth around one of Kiyoshi's numerous gushing cuts, "And you're in no position to bleed all over my apartment, so stop it please.

"And you won't let me leave peacefully to meet my end," added Kiyoshi.

"Go fuck yourself, or go get drunk and wasted," replied Naruto, "But just don't go and kill yourself."

"Very well. But make no mistake. Konoha will be attacked, and it will get slaughtered like every other before it."

Naruto kept wrapping cloths. "We'll fight. We'll endure. And I won't let anyone die."

"Such conviction," thought Kiyoshi. And it was almost enough to bring Kiyoshi back into the game of the living.

"We won't give you up no matter what."

Kiyoshi sighed, "How will you do this?"

"What do you mean?"

"The only people that know about this threat are you, Hinata, and me. You don't have time to prepare. I doubt you even have enough time to warn everyone."

Naruto smirked. "I've already warned several people," he said, "We're training like no other."

"How many people?"

"Including myself?" asked Naruto, "Enough."

Kiyoshi gazed up at Naruto, "Naruto," he said, "A dozen people won't be enough."

"We'll be ready for them," said Naruto, "We've found a way to combat them."

"You're not fighting animals or humans!" exclaimed Kiyoshi, "You're not even fighting hybrids! You're fighting semi-gods! You're fighting Demons!"

"That's why knowledge and spirit are power," said Naruto. "That's what you told me I needed to become Hokage. Power through knowledge."

Kiyoshi froze, "It's not the same!"

"We shall see," said Naruto. "Now stop speaking. You're losing blood."

Kiyoshi calmed down and lay still. Then he spoke again, "The least I can do is help you prepare for them." 


	26. Choice is yours

I made a new song.

/aasilencer299 - called 'Distress'

now, about the fanfic, I have some bad news. Due to lack of planning, I've made a wrong turn into a one-way street that only has a single dead end and not other turns. The dead end is a conclusion, however it's not a conclusion that satisfies me. Therefore I should consider the following:

a) step out of the car, but leave the keys in case someone else wants to take it for a spin.  
b) put the gear in reverse and back out the alley to continue driving down the road of possibilities.

The good thing about 'a', is because I'm feeling a bit down under the weather, and that there's a small possibility that my passion for Naruto is dying out. This means that there'd probably be someone who could take better of my car than I can. It's only a possibility which I'll most likely overlook.

The good thing about 'b', is, well, let me put it this way. At the speed I'm driving this fanfic, I'll reach the dead end in several chapters. I hoped to make it at least ten to fifteen chapters longer than it is now. The bad thing about this, is that it may confuse the progress of reading some of you followed.

I'll leave this up to you guys. I'll also put this up on . 


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